Women & Information Technology - Statistics
1) Scope of the Problem
Workforce projections
IT jobs out-strip IT degree production by almost a factor of two, and make up a large portion of
the total project job openings in science and engineering.
Annual Degrees and Job Openings in Broad S&E Fields
160,000
140,000
PhD
Master's
120,000
Bachelor's
Projected Job Openings
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
Engineering
Physical Sciences
Mathematical/
Computer Sciences
Biological/
Agricultural Sciences
SOURCES: Tabulated by National Science Foundation/Division of Science Resources Statistics; degree data from Department of Education/National Center for Education Statistics: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Survey; and NSF/S RS: Survey of
Earned Doctorates; Projected Annual Average Job Openings derived from Department of Commerce (Office of Technology Policy) analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics 2002-2012 projections
Source: John Sargent, Department of Commerce, February 2004.
Declining Interest in Computing/IT
Interest in Computer Science as a field of study has dropped significantly.
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
Percent of incoming freshmen interested in majoring in Computer
Science
Source: HERI American Freshman Survey
3/7/2005
Draft – National Center for Women & Information Technology
1
2) Why focus on IT (and not STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math) more broadly?
Women’s Participation in IT is Comparatively Low and Has Declined
% BS degrees in most other STEM areas at the Bachelors level are close to parity if not over.
Engineering is still low, but the trend in women’s representation is rising. Computer Science is
the only major STEM field where women’s representation is low and not increasing at the
Bachelors level.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Girls’ Lack of Participation
Girls as percent of AP computer science test takers is lower than any other science or math AP
exam.
Percentage of girls taking AP exams, 2003
120%
100%
80%
41%
44%
50%
53%
54%
66%
60%
40%
20%
59%
56%
50%
47%
46%
34%
Percent
Female
cs
C
om
B
pu
te
rS
ci
A
16%
Ph
ys
i
AB
is
try
C
he
m
s
cu
lu
s
tic
C
al
St
at
is
Bi
En
ol
og
vi
ro
y
nm
en
ta
lS
ci
0%
84%
Percent
Male
Source: College Board, 2004
3/7/2005
Draft – National Center for Women & Information Technology
2