Matheus Souza

Professor Bradley
ENC2135
18 February 2016
The computer science community has been around for quite some time, but really took
off in the 1980s when personal computers became more and more popular. Women have been
involved in computer science since the 1980s, but the amount of females who are involved in
computer science and who actually major in it has been dwindling ever since.
The computer science community exists in order to educate individuals about the science
of computer software and programming. Without it, many of the technologies people have grown
to love in todays world serve no purpose. Computer science is not the tangible computer in your
bedroom, nor the phone in your pocket. In other words, computer science is not the hardware,
but the software. Someone can build a phone, or a computer, or a tablet, but without computer
science, these gadgets serve no purpose because computer science is what these pieces of
hardware run in order for the gadget to be functional. Microsoft is a product of computer science.
Millions of lines of code put together to create and operating system recognized around the
world. The software that runs peoples phones is computer science. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr,
any website on the Internet were all created through programming. Computer science empowers
individuals to be creative, and with those skills learned they can go on to earn technology
oriented jobs, work for big tech companies, or even come up with the new big breakthrough in
technology and establish their own company.
The members of the computer science community lie on a wide spectrum. College
professors, who teach new college students the science of programming, are part of the computer
science community. If someone works for a company that is not considered a tech company, but
their part of the job includes programming or any sort of software design, then that person is part
of the computer science community. With that being said, then people that are part of big tech

companies and are responsible for programming are also part of the community. CEOs, like
Mark Zuckerberg, who invented new types of technology through the creation of software are
part of the community. Website and mobile application developers are also part of the
community. In short, if a person programs, they belong to the computer science community.
Today, in many popular fields of study like law, medicine, business, or biology, women
are no longer a minority. Since today worlds is heavily based on technology, one would assume
that the computer science field is no different. But that is not the case. The computer science
community may be thriving in male participants, but there is a shortage of females who are
entering the computer science community. This is very peculiar, especially because as Ben Gose
pointed out in A Reboot in Recruiting Women into Computer Science, females have really
embraced new technologies like Facebook and Twitter, yet there still seem so to be a lack of
interest towards computer science. According to Using Targeted Conferences to Recruit Women
into Computer Science, 18.8% of women received a bachelor's degree in computer science in
2001. In 2010, that percentage dropped to only 13.8%. In the 1980s, women were even more
involved in computer science. According to The Gender Gap: Is it a Computing Problem Or
Simply a Computer Science Problem?, 35% of women were involved in computer science
during the 80s. But once again, that percentage has dropped to roughly 15% in todays society.
So why has the number of women in computer science been dropping over the last few
decades, especially now in todays technologically oriented society? There are a few causes. The
article Bringing Young Women into Computing through the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing
Program, states that a girls interest in computing classes is influenced by whether or not they
have friends in the class or if boys dominate the classes. According to the same article, a survey
showed that 47% of girls would feel uncomfortable if they were the only girls in a class. High
school is a time where kids usually develop their main interest in a career to pursue in college. If

during this time a girl opts out of participating in computer science related classes, then that is
one more girl that will not be gaining interest in computer science and will not be entering the
field. Subtle cues like saying that computer oriented fields of study are geeky also make girls
believe that a technology oriented career is not for them, even if they might have been curious
about it at some point. The same thing happens when people of authority like parents, teachers,
or counselors drop hints that steer girls towards non-technological fields of study. A girls
perception that she will fit in is a major factor that determines their major, so if these things
occur, it drives females away from computer science.
Another reason why the amount of females involved in computer science has decreased is
because computer science went from being categorized under liberal arts or mathematics to
being categorized under engineering. Female enrollment in engineering has always been lower
than male enrollment in engineering. So when computer science got classified together with
engineering, the number of females who joined computer science dropped. Also, according to
The Gender Gap: Is it a Computing Problem Or Simply a Computer Science Problem?, when
the personal computer gained popularity in the 80s and early 90s, it was considered a boy toy,
and therefore diverted girls attention. In the article Maria Klawe Won't Let Computer Science
Remain a Boys' Club, the author states that computer games in the 80s also contributed to
giving society a perception that computers are meant for boys.
Additionally, stereotypes also divert womens attention away from computer science. In
the article Gender and the Pipeline Metaphor in Computing, the author points out that a survey
revealed that girls in middle school and high school portrayed a computer person as an antisocial male. Computers have also become culturally portrayed as masculine, and a study
showed that male culture caused computing to become a difficult subject for women. In addition,
according to the same article, the workload, family conflicts, and the male organization of

technological fields steers females away from computer science and other tech oriented fields of
study.
In the article Why STEM Fields Still Don't Draw More Women, experts were asked to
give their opinion on the gender gap in computer science. One of the experts, by the name of
Robin Coger, stated that personal capabilities and willingness to succeed as well as the desire to
pursue that success are two very important factors when it comes to getting students to succeed
in STEM fields like computer science. The expert then connects these two factors to earlier
education, and that quality and rigor of the education must be adequate in order for those two
factors to be met. This means that grades K-12 need to start exposing kids to computer science
related activities and classes. Without the early exposure, interest towards the subject may never
appear.
Another expert, Jan Cuny, refers back to misconceptions that society has created about
computing, such as it being geeky or too hard for girls. Or perhaps a worse misconception,
that computer science just equals programming and programming does not benefit society. These
types of misconceptions will most definitely scare girls away, especially girls who want to be
creative, make a difference, and change the world. Unfortunately, girls peers and popular media
often confirm these misconceptions. Many schools also dont help the cause because they just
offer basic computer courses that dont tap into a persons creative side. Finally, Jan also points
out that girls often dont get the encouragement they need to try out computer related courses,
and so they just never do.
People within the computer science community do not view the gender gap issue as a
benefit. After all, females have great minds. Society cannot just expect males to come up with
technological breakthroughs. Females are more than capable of coming up with the next big
thing in the tech world, but in order for them to do so, the computer science community will need

to increase females interest towards it. If females do not start gaining interest towards computer
science, society might miss out on someones great idea.
So how can the computer science community increase the interest of females towards it?
One simple way to get girls into computer science is to simply encourage them more. The
National Center for Women and IT (NCWIT) does just that. Within NCWIT there is the
Aspirations Computing Program. The goal of this program is to support girls who have an
interest in computer science. Encouragement is extremely important because it is what keeps
people going when they face opposition. Girls who show the slightest interest in computer
science need to be encouraged, especially because a male dominated field can seem intimidating
at first.
Colleges and universities can also do their part in promoting female integration in
computer science. In California, Harvey Mudd College is known for drastically increasing the
amount of women in their Computer Science program, from 12% to 40% in 2008, and it has
stayed there ever since. How did they do it? The first thing they did was revise their introductory
course for computer science. They also began to offer computer science research opportunities
for female students once they got past their first year. Finally, Harvey Mudd College started
offering first-year students a trip to the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing
(GHC). The GHC is a conference that celebrates women's accomplishments in Computer
Science. First-year female students who attended the celebration gained more interest in
computer science. According to Using Targeted Conferences to Recruit Women into Computer
Science, their surveys showed that attending GHC increased students desire to take another
computer science related course, and also increased their desire to major in computer science.
Harvard achieved something similar. Harvards computer science program was
considered one of the most gender-skewed programs at the university. However, Harvard
managed to almost double the amount of females majoring in computer science, from 13 percent

to about 25 percent. How? Their revised introductory course to programming played a major
role. Other universities, like the University of California, have also emphasized the importance to
get women interest in this field of study. The University of Texas used a very clever strategy.
They offer 60 high school girls a free one-week camp called "First Bytes." First Bytes is a
computer science oriented camp that teaches its members what computer science is all about and
some of the first skills a programmer needs to know.
Another simpler way to attract women to computer science is to make them realize that
there is plenty of money surrounding this field of study. As Yiwi Zhao said in Worried about
Jobs, College Women Go 'Geek', Thats where the money is. After all, demands for

technology positions stay fairly steady even if there's a recession.

Additionally, early experiences with computers also increase the likeliness that a person
will develop an affection towards the subject. In Attracting Women to the CS Major, data
was collected from 31 focus groups. They learned that a student's views on his own
abilities in comparison to the abilities necessary to pursue a career in computer
science affected whether or not they should venture out into this field. And of
course, the features of a computer scientists' careers, as in what a computer
scientist does on a day to day basis, also influences a student's interest towards
computer science. So, if a girl can be exposed to computers from early on, and if
there are people who support her and believe she has what it takes to be a
computer scientists, then it is more than likely that she will major in this field.
In the article What can be done about Gender Diversity in Computing? A
Lot!, many more strategies to attract females to computer science are explored.
One of them is creating clubs for females who are interested in computer science.
Having an all woman group, or club, serves as motivation for the females to strive in
their computer science careers. Properly taking advantage of faculty members is
another strategy. This includes having faculty members develop a mentoring

relationship with the students, motivating them, and activities outside the
classroom that relate to computer science, like research opportunities. This article
reemphasizes the importance of sending females to GHC, as mentioned earlier.
There is no doubt that the majority of people in the computer science
community are males. However, there are methods that can be implemented within
society, schools, and universities that can draw females into this community. If
these methods prove to be successful, then the computer science community will
be benefited. Females have great minds, and with their addition in the computer
science community, the tech world can experience its next breakthrough in
innovation.