Comments on: gender gap in perception of computer science

By: Roger

Roger — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:30:40 +0000

“having the power to create and discover new things.”

This is what drove me toward computer science in high school and still drives me after having obtained a masters in computer science

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:52:59 +0000

Maybe I’m missing something here, but there seems to be somewhat of a rush to ignore the obvious. There is a cultural stereotype that females are fuzzy-headed. I.e. that they are creatures of emotion rather than logic. I would assume that this stereotype stems from the traditional biologically based role of females as child-bearers and child nurturers. I have even heard it asserted anecdotally that the hormones of pregnancy appear to cause fuzzy-headedness in women who do not otherwise exhibit this trait.

Since the entire structure of computer technology is based on logic and precision, there is unlikely to be gender parity within the computer-related professions until the gender stereotypes of logic versus emotion are constructively addressed.

Note that this analysis does not apply to Macs, as the Mac is intended by design to be a computer that is not “really a computer” in the normal sense of that term, and is marketed to a user base who wish to enjoy the benefits of digital technology without the necessity of being precise or logical.

(It would be interesting if there is research on gender choice between Macs and regular computers).

-Steve

By: Brian O' Hanlon

Brian O' Hanlon — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:28:56 +0000

How about this for a new image idea for computing? ? ?

http://designcomment.blogspot.com/2009/06/bare-metal-recovery.html

Brian O’ Hanlon

By: David Ticoll

David Ticoll — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:34:37 +0000

Danah,

We have just released a study in Canada that parallels some of these findings. See http://www.ccict.ca/press.html

The fact that girls are far less interested in computing than boys is well known, and of course reflected in the enrollment statistics. This subject has been extensively researched. It’s a big problem, but we pretty much know why it exists. On the other hand, the cohort’s overall disinclination to enter the field is less well understood. These two studies provide some new information about that.

We found that nearly half of Canada�s grade 9 & 10 students are neutral or unsure about the appeal of an IT-related career. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed were unable to name a job in IT. And most of the jobs that the others named were traditional occupations like programmer, technician, or Web designer. Parents and guidance counselors are equally unsure about the nature of today�s IT careers.

But the survey also produced some exciting positive findings: students who perceive that an IT career is interesting, fun, cool and creative are more likely to want to pursue a career in the field. This bodes extremely well for turning the tide on enrollments, since today�s specialized, multidisciplinary � high growth � occupations are as interesting, fun, cool and creative as can be.

By: evmaiden

evmaiden — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:38:20 +0000

read the post of thought of this video from 1st grade class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhzRSGVBWh4
its been out a while but if you haven’t seen it is worth a view

By: Rich Kilmer

Rich Kilmer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:18:07 +0000

I recommend reading “The Sexual Paradox: Extreme Men, Gifted Women and the Real Gender Gap” published last year. Susan Pinker, psychologist and journalist, has compiled a rather fascinating set of information on this topic. We had a recent blow-up in the Ruby/Rails community with gender sensitivity and this book really helped me navigate that and understand a bit some of why these gaps may exist. For folks that think its all about male dominance and not about female choice, you should look seriously at this book.

By: Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:28:03 +0000

I posted on similar issues back in march, and was amazed by the response, both in the comments and privately. I was stunned not by how many people recognize it as a problem, but how many people don’t – the prejudice that women have to deal with in computer science, even once they’ve taken the rare step of choosing it as a career, is immense. For a seemingly-progressive field, what with flattening of hierarchies and social media innovation, it’s odd that it’s primarily the domain of white males.

By: Kragen Javier Sitaker

Kragen Javier Sitaker — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:51:19 +0000

Wow, that’s pretty mindblowing. If those results hold in Europe, it would explain a substantial part of the gender gap in free software – about half of it, I think. (The ratio is something like 20:1 or 30:1; a 4× or 6× difference only accounts for half of that, leaving another 5× difference to be explained by factors like discrimination.)

Hey, let Beatrice and me know if you’re ever in Buenos Aires!

By: Michael Zimmer

Michael Zimmer — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:26:16 +0000

Your readers might be interested in the Rapunsel Project, which is trying to help overcome this gap:

Rapunsel is single-player dance game designed to teach computer programming to 10-12 year olds. The project was started with the goal of empowering young girls to learn programming as a way of addressing the critical shortage of women in technology related careers and degree programs. By giving players the opportunity to explore coding through scaffolded challenges in a playful world, we hope to empower young people to learn about computer science. It is a cross platform, downladable game created in the Torque game engine.

By: Bob Calder

Bob Calder — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:11:53 +0000

You know what I mean about an “actual person” right? The obvious disconnect between expectations in the survey when you ask kids who don’t know doctors or lawyers but do know nurses and teachers.