Gender Equity in Computing
Rita M. Powell
Department Manager
Dept. of Computer & Information Science
Statistics on Women’s Participation in
Computer Science:

20% of undergraduates in selective computer science
programs are women.
 Women held only 24% of degreed IT positions.
 Technology jobs will increase by 75% between 2000 and
2010, accounting for 15 percent of all new jobs in the
American economy.
 In 1998, women earned only 27% of the degrees awarded
in Computer Science.
 Women’s retention in undergraduate programs of
Computer Science is only about 42% as compared to 70%
for men.
Why and What can we do?
What the research tells us:

Influencing Factors
1. Family Environment and Support
2. Student behavior factors such as attitudes,
aspirations, and academic preparation.
3. School/institution factors such as precollege
curriculum and instruction and postsecondary
special programs in recruitment, retention and
financial aid.
Family Environment and
Support

Parent’s educational attainment and
occupation
Student Behavior—Attitudes and
Aspirations:

Gender differences

Low self-confidence
Attitudes regarding quantitative
subjects:

Relative to men,
– women may be more sensitive to social
relationships
– value more human aspects of the environment.
– Women dislike highly abstract nature of S&E
knowledge
– Women tend to dislike strong competitive
environment of S&E depts.
Gender Roles

Gender roles—prioritizing career vs.
marriage/family Research mixed here. Some
researchers found that women with strong career
commitments gravitate towanrd S&E.
 Unique psychological difficulty of minority
students—Over-confidence and poor preparation
 These attitudes become apparent during middle
school and are held by college women.
Academic Preparation

Gender gap in science related achievement not as
great as gender differences in science related
attitudes and activities.
 Girls and underrepresented minorities found to
have taken fewer advanced courses in math in
high school than males and white and Asian peers.
 Girls that major in computer science are often the
products of and excelled in schools with strong
math curricula.
School/Institution Factors

Precollege Education
– Intensive curricula and excellent instruction in high
school mathematics coupled with high expectations
– Teachers and Counselors

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Counselors’ encouragement in choice of S&E majors.
Quality of math and science teachers.
Teachers’ expectations of girls vs. boys
Teachers’ interaction with girls vs. boys
Postsecondary Institutions

Small liberal arts colleges with an
apprenticeship model of education do
better!
 Academic and Social climates of the
institution: Contents and approach to S&E
education are inherently disadvantageous to
women and underrepresented minorities.
How?

Valuing personal success VS. Valuing people and
groups
 Over-emphasis on grades at the expense of other
assessment methods
 Need to match special programs for recruitment
and retention with effective program organization
to support admitted students.
 Need to offer Enrichment programs, not remedial
programs
My study: freshmen
women’s persistence in
computer science at Penn
Women’s issues that impact their success
in the first year of the major:

Lack of a community
 Perceived lack of prior experience in computer science
Lack of confidence in their ability to learn computer
science.
 Distaste for the competitive, male environment termed
“CSish attitudes,” impeded cooperative and collaborative
learning and formation of community within the student
body.
 Testing Anxiety which develops from Stereotype Threat.
 Poor or mediocre grades.
 Fear of not being passionate enough about computer
science.
Remedies: What helps? What works to
encourage women’s persistenc
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high school teachers’ encouragement
Parental encouragement and support
Build community within the school and the
department through shared activities and experiences.
Increase collaborative learning opportunities
Increase faculty involvement
Remedies: What helps? What works to
encourage women’s persistenc (cont.)

Show students what they can do with computer science in
addition to programming:
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Artificial Intelligence
Robotics
Cognitive Science applications
Bioinformatics
Natural Language Processing
Computer animation
Business applications
Network security
Internet application
Computer game development
– Computer vision