Social Diversity and Difference Seminar Series, Birmingham 27/4/2005
Why Women Don’t Choose Computing
Eva Turner, University of East London. e.turner@uel.ac.uk
The first seminar in this series concentrated on how students choose
whether and when to enter HE, what their motivation and aspirations
are, and whether their perceived middle or working class background
affects their choice of university. The advertised topic for this
morning’s session is:
What have we learned about the impact of gender, ethnicity and
socio-economic background on choice of both institution and
discipline at the pre-entry stage of the student life cycle?
and this afternoon’s session is about:
How do pre- and post-1992 institutions and individual
departments prepare for a new intake of students from differing
socio-economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds? What impact
does this have on pre-entry student choice?
My contribution to this seminar will reflect my research specialism in
gender and computing technology. I will talk first about my own
experience as a woman lecturer teaching women students post-1992
“new” university computer science, and then in more general terms
about the issues raised in this morning’s session. I will be looking
particularly at the external influences, both industrial and cultural, that
may have a bearing on course and subject choice.
“New” University Computer Science
In 1990 I was asked to organise and run an FSC funded IT course for
women returners. It was a one year course equivalent to the first year
of a degree in Information Technology, open to women over the age of
25 (later 21), which ran successfully for 5 years. It gave around 180
women not only practical skills in computing, but also valuable
experience of higher education, and increased confidence and selfesteem.
Most of the women came on to the course because they wanted to
return to work after a career break, and felt they needed an update in
new technology. All of them lived locally. Though the catchment area
of the university includes large black and Asian communities, most of
the students were white and over 30 years old. 32% had no
qualifications or were educated to “O” level or equivalent, and 38%
were educated to “A” level or equivalent. 26% were single mothers.
About a third of these women proceeded to Higher Education, and a
further quarter opted for further non-degree training. Responses to the
post-course questionnaire for the first 3 years (64 = 66%) showed that
at least 13 women went on to Information Technology degrees, 5
obtained employment in the Computing Industry, and 12 worked as
highly skilled IT specialists.
In those days a number of ESF women-only courses ran all over the
country. Most offered only basic, low level IT literacy, and were
designed to ensure a lower clerical level of employment. My course
aimed at a high level of technical literacy, offering the choice of either
continuing in technical education or obtaining more skilled
employment.
While the “old” polytechnic had been committed to supporting this
course when the ESF money ran out, the “new” university withdrew this
support, interpreting women only course as contravening their equal
opportunities policy. They did not provide a forum for discussion on
equal opportunities in a climate of rapidly declining numbers of
women students (particularly mature women students) who choose to
study computer science in a department with a very few women
lecturers.
The general feeling among academic staff from the “old” polytechnics
was that they were primarily committed to teaching, working at
predominantly teaching institutions. Much of the 1980s was spent
modularising the degrees, opening them to a wider student body. The
student-centred approach, while not always underpinned by an
awareness of the “political correctness” demanded today, was
nevertheless effective in drawing students from a wide range of
disadvantaged and minority groups, and encouraging mature women
into education. Except, that is, in the field of technology. This
remained male dominated and effectively closed to women staff and
women students.
The transformation of polytechnics into universities has, in my
experience, led to a substantial emphasis being placed on
departments becoming research active in a way acceptable to RAE.
This led to a withdrawal of support for the broad modular approach in
favour of more narrowly focused computer science degrees. A largescale early retirement scheme was put in place to weed out staff not
research active, and over a period of time this resulted in an
environment which closely resembled the traditional computer science
departments of the “old” universities.
This policy made computer science even less attractive to women,
both students and potential members of staff. The self-image of these
new departments now reflected the general public and the “old”
universities perception of computer science as mathematical, techie
and nerdy. At the same time, however, in the context of a booming
computer industry it was seen by large numbers of students as a
stepping stone to a highly lucrative career.
As computer science grew to be the biggest department at many
universities, women did not choose to study (or work) there. They
chose Business Information Systems and Information Technology
related degree courses instead. And as my own course came to an end,
the powers that be saw no value in supporting future courses
specifically aimed at getting more women into computing. There were
more than enough male applicants to choose from.
Why women don’t choose computing
The number of women in computing education is extremely low.
Various studies have come up with figures of between 4 and 18%. The
DTI’s own statistics (DTI 2003) suggest 20%, but I believe a close
examination of completed female graduations would expose this as a
considerable over-estimate.
There are many reasons why women do not like to study computer
science. A range of investigations has been published on this topic,
and a range of conclusions has been drawn, many of them far from
satisfactory. For example, a number of papers, including some of my
own early efforts, argue that female role models will set an example to
girls choosing a specific area of study. But according to observed DTI
and AWISE activities based on the role model format, it seems this has
not been the case, in either Science and Technology in general, or
Computing in particular.
This phenomenon has been well documented over the last 20 years
(Martin et al 2004, Camp 2002, Turner 2001, Mortleman 2004), and it
has been argued that the lack of women’s participation in the creation
of technology is excluding an important and substantial body of
human experience from the process (Suchman 1994’ Adam 1998,
Schiebinger 1999 and others). Working conditions and the xpectations
the computer industry has of its employees are almost Victorian (e.g.
Richardson and Richardson 2001). Unionisation is non-existent, and
workers are often expected to be on call 7 days a week. A lack of
opportunity for women to return after a career break, gender and race
discrimination at the point of entry into the profession (e.g. Turner
1997, 2001), and the male-dominated nature of the working
environment (e.g. Webster 1996) have often been blamed for women
not choosing to work in the industry.
Women are not equally paid for equal work in many industries, and the
computing industry is no exception (Martin et al 2004). In fact, the
“glass ceiling” in the computer industry is probably lower than in many
others. In general, the number of women managers in the industrial
West is increasing, but in the computer industry statistics indicate that
only 21% of senior managers, and 8% of top managers, are women
(Enzine 2004). And according to Martin et al (2004), in the UK alone
there are some 50,000 women with degrees in science, engineering
and technology (including computing), who are not using their
qualifications.
Schools and parents both have considerable influence over the way
girls choose their future careers (Bleeker 2002), and 50,000 women is
a lot of potential mothers whose example could discourage their
daughters from entering the fields of science and technology. On the
other hand, I myself am a computer scientist, and my daughters are
competent computer users, but it seems that neither of them has been
inspired by my example to choose computing as a career. They both
maintain that IT was the most boring subject they studied at school.
Out of many possible reasons for this attitude, I believe that the major
one is still the social conditioning we all receive from the age we
become susceptible to external influences. Film, television and
literature, as well as parents and peer groups, bombard us with
messages which we unconsciously absorb in a self-perpetuating cycle.
There is a body of research which compares how boys and girls gain a
teacher’s attention during interaction with computer technology, and
how they co-operate in front of computers. This research also looks at
how teachers themselves relate to new technology, and at social
stereotyping in education and play activity. From our early years we
watch advertisements on our television screens that show cuddly teddy
bears and dolls being used by cute little girls voiced over by cute little
girls, while technical and combinatorial toys are invariably used by
boys voiced over by adult males.
In the movies, computer scientists – terrestrial or otherwise – are
usually men, or occasionally sexy and not very realistic women.
Computer games are typically designed and bought for boys and men,
often with stereotypical male content including female actors of Lara
Croft type. On the rare occasions when technology is portrayed as
female friendly, the advertisers again resort to stereotypes - a
microwave oven with internet access, for example, to help in a search
for better recipes.
In 1998 I published a study of computer advertisements (Turner 1998),
based on 3 years of issues of PC World magazine (1993-1996). I
analysed all 583 advertisements (repetitions excluded), which promoted
computer hardware, software and services using pictures of people or
parts of their bodies. Of these, only 83 used pictures of women, and 12
used female hands, and as I will demonstrate, there were substantial
differences in the way men and women were portrayed. With only one
exception, the women either did not interact with the computer
technology at all – they are seen using a telephone, or appeared as
decorative or sexual objects accompanying the technology. Most of
them looked directly into the camera, or appeared confused. Men, on
the other hand, were nearly always shown as fully engaged with the
technology, rarely looking into the camera. When they did, they were
usually named as real people in positions of authority, and when used as
decorative objects, their bodies typically represented power.
In my opinion, this research exposed a computer industry whose
attitude towards the women in its advertising campaigns was
fundamentally irresponsible. Nor, as it happened, did any of these
advertisements pay heed to people with special needs, or use black or
Asian people in any positive way.
The message these advertisements sent to the general public was that
women are not confident with technology, and have no status or power
around computers. The industry was neither advertising nor selling the
computers to women, thus asserting that both technological know-how
and purchasing power were in the hands of men.
Since then I have collected advertisements from other sources to see if
the computing industry (which is now making noises about underrepresentation of women in the creation of the technology) is showing
any signs of getting its act together. And as you will see, the message
it’s sending to its consumers has not changed a great deal in the last 12
years.....
Conclusion
Using advertisements is only one way to illustrate the concealed social
messages we allow to be sent to women about themselves and their
relationship to computers. We can also learn valuable lessons from the
behaviour of teachers in both schools and universities (Turner 2005), the
nature of computer games, the dynamics of family and work
relationships, the position of women in the computer industry and
education (e.g. Webster 1996, Camp 1997, Roberts 1997, Turner 2002),
and university material advertising computer courses (Grundy 2000).
As a society, we need to acquire the political will to address the issue of
equal opportunities for women to choose Computing as an area of study
and as a potential career.
References
Bleeker, M. (2002), ‘Parents' Influence on Math and Science Career
Plans of their Adolescent Children’, Poster Presentation for Research
in Adolescence, New Orleans, LA
Camp, T. (October 1997), The Incredible Shrinking Pipeline,
Communication of the ACM Journal, pp 103-110
DTI Higher Education Statistics Summary (2003)
http://www2.set4women.gov.uk/set4women/statistics/04_index.htm
[27 March 2005]
Enzine (2004) Women in Management, http://www.softworkscomputing.com/feb04_ezine/dload_women_in_mgmt.html [27
March 2005]
Grundy, F. (2000), 'University Prospectuses for Computing: Is There a
Hidden Message for Women?' Journal of Women and Minorities in
Science and Engineering 6(4) pp. 331-348
Martin, U., Liff, S., Dutton, W., Light, A. (2004), Rocket science or social
science? Involving women in the creation of computing, Oxford
Internet Institute, Oxford
Roberts, P. (1997), Androgynous Women in Computing: A Perfect
Match, in Lander R and Adam A (eds) Women in Computing,
England: Intellect
Turner, E. (1998), Advertising Knowledge: The Role of Women and
Minorities in Advertising Computers, in AISB Quarterly, summer
1998 No 100, The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and
the Simulation of Behaviour, pp 37-52
Turner, E. (2002), Gendered Future of Computer Profession, Establishing
and Ethical Obligation on the Computer Educators, in Alvarez, I. et al
(eds) The Transformation of Organisations in the Information Age,
proceedings of the 6th International Conference ETHICOMP2002,
Universidade Lusiada de Lisbon, pp 711-722
Turner, E (2005), Teaching Gender Inclusive Computer Ethics, paper
presented at 3rd European Symposium on Gender and ICT – Gender
and ICT – Working for Change, Manchester
Webster, J., (1996), Shaping Women's Work: Gender, Employment and
Information Technology, Longman