Women in computer science - CiteSeerX
Women in Computer Science: Where Have We Been and Where are We Going? Tracy Camp, The Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO Denise Gurer, 3Com Corporation, Santa Clara, CA Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the historical and current perspectives on women in computer science and the recent downward trend of women's participation in this field We then present results from a survey that asked respondents their views on why women's participation in the field of computing is decreasing, what we can do to reverse this trend, and what they predict the future holds for women in computing. We conclude this paper with a description of ACM-W and its on-going projects.
to feel as if they didn't belong in the computer science field. (Frenkel, 1990) In fact, there seems to be a direct negative correlation between women's participation in computer science and the increased prestige associated with working in the computer science field.
Keywords: ACM-W, computer games, future perspective, gender discrimination, historical perspective, incredible shrinking pipeline, mentoring, role models, women in computing
The percentage of women graduating with a Bachelor's degree in computer science rose by 167% from 1970 to 1983 (i.e., from 13.6% to 36.3%). (Camp 1997) This initial upward trend in the 1970's corresponds to dramatic increases in the numbers of computer science graduates in this newly formed field (from 2,388 in 1970-71 to 24,510 in 1982-83). However, as computer science became more mainstream, the environment became less hospitable to women and women chose to leave the field or never even enter it. Specifically, from 1984 to 1994, the percentage of women graduating with a Bachelor's degree in computer science decreased by 23.4% (from 37.1% to 28.4%). This unfortunate decrease is known as the incredible shrinking pipeline (ISP).
1. History of Women's Participation in Computing Historical perspective plays an important role in any scientific field, as it provides the context and knowledge to allow us to learn from past mistakes, understand the current achievements (both technical and social), and provide a vision for the future. This is especially true for the field of computer science which is unique in two ways: it is a relatively new technology field and it has been evolving more rapidly than anyone could have predicted. Even though history does not show it, women played an important role in the early days of computing. In fact, many of the initial programmers were women: the world's first conceptual programmer was Ada Lovelace; the first programmers of the world's first electronic computer, the ENIAC, were six women (Kay Mauchley, Antonelli, Jean Jennings Bartik, Betty Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff, Meltzer, Frances Bilas Spence, and Ruth Lichterman TeiteIbaum); one of the fust programmers of Harvard's Mark I was Grace Hopper; the first programmer of the National Bureau of Standards SEAC machine was Ethel Marden, and so on. (Gurer, 1995; Gurer 1996). Even though these programmers o h had advanced mathematics degrees and were technically more than qualified for the job, there was a perception in those days that women were ideal candidates for programming: "Programming requires lots of patience, persistence and a capacity for detail and those are traits that many girls have." (Seligsohu, 1967) It was not until much later that women began
0-7803-5617-9f99/$10.00IEEE
2. Recent Trends in Degrees Awarded
The fact that the incredible shrinking pipeline exists is especially striking when one considers the following statistics. First, the percentage of women awarded B.A.B.S. degrees over all disciplines continues to increase. In 1980-81, 49.8% of the total degrees awarded went to women; in 1993-94, 54.5% of the total degrees awarded went to women. (NCES 1996) In addition, other science and engineering fields, which are typically male dominated fields, show a slow but steady increase in the proportion of women. Specifically, from 1980 to 1994, the percentage of B.A.B.S. degrees awarded to women in engineering areas increased by 45%, in physical science areas increased by 37%, in biological and life science areas increased by 16%, and in mathematical and statistic areas increased by 10%. (Camp 1997) Thus, we must ask ourselves, why is a downward trend happening in computer science, while other science and engineering fields and the total population have seen upward trends, and how can we reverse this trend? It is crucial that we answer these questions and take
242
appropriate action to bring diversity to technology, which society desperately needs. 3. The Results of a Survey
In the fall of 1997, we asked the community to participate in a survey that concerned women in computing. (Camp 1997) We have now tabulated 111 unique responses to this survey. (Camp 1998) Three questions in the survey asked respondents to state their views on why the increhble shrinking pipeline exists. The number one reason that the respondents of the survey agreed contributed to the ISP concerns how computer games were developed in the early 1980's. Overall, the games developed in the early 1980's were designed and marketed for only half of our population. As an example, of the 32 people on the covers of computer games in 1985, only four of them were female; two females were on the cover of Monopoly, one large queen was on the cover of Palace in Thunderland, and one weak princess was on the cover of Wizard and the Princess. (Kiesler 1985) The second reason that respondents agreed contributed to the ISP was a change in the perception of computing, i.e., the respondents believed that the perception of CS became "hackerherdanti-social" in the early 1980's. Items associated with gender discrimination of women in computing were the third, fourth, and sixth reasons cited for causing the ISP, e.g., ''mentors began encouraging boys to major in CS more than girls" and "CS proved to be inhospitable to women". The fifth reason cited concerns the lack of role models at the university level, i.e., "too few women in computing in the 1970's became professors". Three questions in the survey asked what the community should do to improve the situation for women in computing. The results of the survey illustrate that the respondents believe there are many things we could be doing. In fact, the respondents agreed that 34 of the 37 choices were things we could do to improve the ISP problem. When asked to prioritize what we should be doing, three of the top five suggestions concerned mentoring: "make more visible the female role models that exist", l'improve CS mentoring of K- 12 school females", and l'improve CS mentoring of college females". The other two suggestions in the top five priority items concerned classrooms: "ensure equal access to computers for girls in K-12 schools, public and private" and "train teachers to have classrooms that are friendly to both males and females".
4. The Future
The computer industry continues to grow rapidly. In addition to the critical shortage of computer scientists in today's job market (Arnheim 1997), the number of computer professionals employed as computer scientists and system analysts in the year 2005 is expected to be almost double what the numbers were in 1994 (Keaton and Hamilton, 1996). Fortunately, the downward trend that we have witnessed in the recent past for CS degrees awarded is about to change. Specifically, the number of new bachelor students enrolled in computer science Ph.D.-granting departments increased by 5% in 1994-95, by 40% in 1995-96, and by 39% in 1996-97 (Andrews, 199597). In other words, the number of undergraduate students in CS departments across the United States has doubled since 1994. One question, however, remains: how will this large increase in the number of B.A.B.S. degrees awarded in CS (which we are about to witness) affect the percentage of women recipients? The National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education predict that although the total number of B.A.B.S. degrees awarded will fluctuate over the next decade, the percentage of B.A.B.S. degrees awarded to women will continue on its upward trend. (NCES 1996) Will the increase in the percentage of women on college campuses provide an increase in the percentage of women in CS departments? In the survey, we asked what the respondents think the future holds. (Camp 1998) Of the 111 responses, 36.4% thlnk the percentage of degrees awarded in CS to women will increase in the near future, 37.3% thmk the percentage of degrees awarded in CS to women will continue to decrease, and 13.6% think we will not see any change. (12.7% of the respondents stated they are unsure what the future will hold.) In other words, there is no agreement on the future statistics of women in computing. Determining the percentage of females currently in CS programs is an important task, since the student population has changed, i.e., doubled, dramatically in the last five years. Thus, the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM's) Committee on Women in Computing (ACM-W) is currently gathering statistics to answer the question of what the future holds. Unfortunately, initial results do not bode well for women in computing.
5. ACM-W The mission of ACM-W is to engage in activities and projects that aim to counteract the many factors that
243
contriiute to the declining numbers of women in computer science. These projects include promoting activities that result in more equal representation of women in computer science, such as mentoring or role modeling, monitoring the status of women in industrial and academic computing through the gathering of statistics, providing hstorical information about women's accomplishments and roles in computer science, and serving as a repository of information about programs, documents and policies of concern to women in computer science. ACM-W is an executive committee of the professional society of ACM, which is the world's primary resource for professionals in the information technology field. For more information on ACM-W, see http://www.acm.org/women/. Recently, ACM dramatically increased its financial support of ACM-W in order to allow ACM-W to launch two new programs: an Internship Program and an Ambassador Program. The Internship Program will hire undergraduate students to assist ACM-W in specific areas, while the Ambassador Program will iden* ACM-member computer scientists in selected targeted countries to be ACM-W Ambassadors. Initially, the ambassadors' duties will be to provide ACM-W with information on programs and people involved in solving the issues related to women in computing and to be responsive to ACM-W's questions regardmg these issues in the ambassador's country. Eventually these first steps will lead ACMW to sponsor international programs and other activities such as international workshops or reports, thus giving ACM-W a strong international presence and ability to impact computing for women worldwide. Acknowledgements This work was supported in part by NSF Grants EIA9812016 and ANI-9996156. REFERENCES Andrews, G. (1995-97) "CRA Taulbee surveys", Compufing Research News,6-9(2).
Amheirn, L. (1997) "IT Companies hcavily courting CS grads", Computing Research News, 9(3), 1-7. Camp, T. (1997) "The incrediblc shrinking pipeline", Communications of the ACM, 40(10), 103-110. Paper is available on-line at at: http:Nwww.niines.edu/fs~liome/tcamp/paper.html Camp, T. (1998) "Survey Says! Results on the incredible shrinking pipeline", Proceedings of the ACM Policy Conference, May 1998. Paper is available on-line at at: http://www.mines.edu/ fs_honie/tcamp/l.csults/paper.html
244
Frenkel, K. (1990) "Women and computing," Communications of the ACM, 33(1 I), 34-46. Gum, D. (1996) "Women's contributions to early computing at
the National Bureau of Standards", ZEEE Annals of the History of Compufing,18(3), 29-35.
Gurer, D. (1995) "Pioneering women in computer science", Communications of the ACM, 38(1), 45-54. Keaton, J. and Hamilton, S. (1996) "Employment 2005: Boom or bust for computer professionals?" IEEE Computer, 29(5), 87-98. Kiesler, S., Sproull, L. and Eccles, J. S. (1985) "Pool Halls, Chips, and War Games: Women in the Culture of Computing", Psychology of Women Quarterly, 9,451-462. NCES (1996) "hojections of education statistics to 2007", National Center for Education Statistics, US. Department of Education, http://www.ed.gov/NCES/pubdpj/index.html, accessed May 1999. Seligsohn, I.J. (1967) Your Career in Computer Programming. Julian Messner (Ed.) Simon and Schuster.
T. Camp and D. Gurer are the current CoChairs of ACM-W. Recently, NSF awarded Dr. Camp and Dr. Gurer a grant to continue their investigation of the incredible shrinking pipeline, to determine the cause behind the decline of women's participation in CS, and to identify solutions. Dr.Camp is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Gurer is a technology developer in the Technology Development Center at 3Com.
to feel as if they didn't belong in the computer science field. (Frenkel, 1990) In fact, there seems to be a direct negative correlation between women's participation in computer science and the increased prestige associated with working in the computer science field.
Keywords: ACM-W, computer games, future perspective, gender discrimination, historical perspective, incredible shrinking pipeline, mentoring, role models, women in computing
The percentage of women graduating with a Bachelor's degree in computer science rose by 167% from 1970 to 1983 (i.e., from 13.6% to 36.3%). (Camp 1997) This initial upward trend in the 1970's corresponds to dramatic increases in the numbers of computer science graduates in this newly formed field (from 2,388 in 1970-71 to 24,510 in 1982-83). However, as computer science became more mainstream, the environment became less hospitable to women and women chose to leave the field or never even enter it. Specifically, from 1984 to 1994, the percentage of women graduating with a Bachelor's degree in computer science decreased by 23.4% (from 37.1% to 28.4%). This unfortunate decrease is known as the incredible shrinking pipeline (ISP).
1. History of Women's Participation in Computing Historical perspective plays an important role in any scientific field, as it provides the context and knowledge to allow us to learn from past mistakes, understand the current achievements (both technical and social), and provide a vision for the future. This is especially true for the field of computer science which is unique in two ways: it is a relatively new technology field and it has been evolving more rapidly than anyone could have predicted. Even though history does not show it, women played an important role in the early days of computing. In fact, many of the initial programmers were women: the world's first conceptual programmer was Ada Lovelace; the first programmers of the world's first electronic computer, the ENIAC, were six women (Kay Mauchley, Antonelli, Jean Jennings Bartik, Betty Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff, Meltzer, Frances Bilas Spence, and Ruth Lichterman TeiteIbaum); one of the fust programmers of Harvard's Mark I was Grace Hopper; the first programmer of the National Bureau of Standards SEAC machine was Ethel Marden, and so on. (Gurer, 1995; Gurer 1996). Even though these programmers o h had advanced mathematics degrees and were technically more than qualified for the job, there was a perception in those days that women were ideal candidates for programming: "Programming requires lots of patience, persistence and a capacity for detail and those are traits that many girls have." (Seligsohu, 1967) It was not until much later that women began
0-7803-5617-9f99/$10.00IEEE
2. Recent Trends in Degrees Awarded
The fact that the incredible shrinking pipeline exists is especially striking when one considers the following statistics. First, the percentage of women awarded B.A.B.S. degrees over all disciplines continues to increase. In 1980-81, 49.8% of the total degrees awarded went to women; in 1993-94, 54.5% of the total degrees awarded went to women. (NCES 1996) In addition, other science and engineering fields, which are typically male dominated fields, show a slow but steady increase in the proportion of women. Specifically, from 1980 to 1994, the percentage of B.A.B.S. degrees awarded to women in engineering areas increased by 45%, in physical science areas increased by 37%, in biological and life science areas increased by 16%, and in mathematical and statistic areas increased by 10%. (Camp 1997) Thus, we must ask ourselves, why is a downward trend happening in computer science, while other science and engineering fields and the total population have seen upward trends, and how can we reverse this trend? It is crucial that we answer these questions and take
242
appropriate action to bring diversity to technology, which society desperately needs. 3. The Results of a Survey
In the fall of 1997, we asked the community to participate in a survey that concerned women in computing. (Camp 1997) We have now tabulated 111 unique responses to this survey. (Camp 1998) Three questions in the survey asked respondents to state their views on why the increhble shrinking pipeline exists. The number one reason that the respondents of the survey agreed contributed to the ISP concerns how computer games were developed in the early 1980's. Overall, the games developed in the early 1980's were designed and marketed for only half of our population. As an example, of the 32 people on the covers of computer games in 1985, only four of them were female; two females were on the cover of Monopoly, one large queen was on the cover of Palace in Thunderland, and one weak princess was on the cover of Wizard and the Princess. (Kiesler 1985) The second reason that respondents agreed contributed to the ISP was a change in the perception of computing, i.e., the respondents believed that the perception of CS became "hackerherdanti-social" in the early 1980's. Items associated with gender discrimination of women in computing were the third, fourth, and sixth reasons cited for causing the ISP, e.g., ''mentors began encouraging boys to major in CS more than girls" and "CS proved to be inhospitable to women". The fifth reason cited concerns the lack of role models at the university level, i.e., "too few women in computing in the 1970's became professors". Three questions in the survey asked what the community should do to improve the situation for women in computing. The results of the survey illustrate that the respondents believe there are many things we could be doing. In fact, the respondents agreed that 34 of the 37 choices were things we could do to improve the ISP problem. When asked to prioritize what we should be doing, three of the top five suggestions concerned mentoring: "make more visible the female role models that exist", l'improve CS mentoring of K- 12 school females", and l'improve CS mentoring of college females". The other two suggestions in the top five priority items concerned classrooms: "ensure equal access to computers for girls in K-12 schools, public and private" and "train teachers to have classrooms that are friendly to both males and females".
4. The Future
The computer industry continues to grow rapidly. In addition to the critical shortage of computer scientists in today's job market (Arnheim 1997), the number of computer professionals employed as computer scientists and system analysts in the year 2005 is expected to be almost double what the numbers were in 1994 (Keaton and Hamilton, 1996). Fortunately, the downward trend that we have witnessed in the recent past for CS degrees awarded is about to change. Specifically, the number of new bachelor students enrolled in computer science Ph.D.-granting departments increased by 5% in 1994-95, by 40% in 1995-96, and by 39% in 1996-97 (Andrews, 199597). In other words, the number of undergraduate students in CS departments across the United States has doubled since 1994. One question, however, remains: how will this large increase in the number of B.A.B.S. degrees awarded in CS (which we are about to witness) affect the percentage of women recipients? The National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Department of Education predict that although the total number of B.A.B.S. degrees awarded will fluctuate over the next decade, the percentage of B.A.B.S. degrees awarded to women will continue on its upward trend. (NCES 1996) Will the increase in the percentage of women on college campuses provide an increase in the percentage of women in CS departments? In the survey, we asked what the respondents think the future holds. (Camp 1998) Of the 111 responses, 36.4% thlnk the percentage of degrees awarded in CS to women will increase in the near future, 37.3% thmk the percentage of degrees awarded in CS to women will continue to decrease, and 13.6% think we will not see any change. (12.7% of the respondents stated they are unsure what the future will hold.) In other words, there is no agreement on the future statistics of women in computing. Determining the percentage of females currently in CS programs is an important task, since the student population has changed, i.e., doubled, dramatically in the last five years. Thus, the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM's) Committee on Women in Computing (ACM-W) is currently gathering statistics to answer the question of what the future holds. Unfortunately, initial results do not bode well for women in computing.
5. ACM-W The mission of ACM-W is to engage in activities and projects that aim to counteract the many factors that
243
contriiute to the declining numbers of women in computer science. These projects include promoting activities that result in more equal representation of women in computer science, such as mentoring or role modeling, monitoring the status of women in industrial and academic computing through the gathering of statistics, providing hstorical information about women's accomplishments and roles in computer science, and serving as a repository of information about programs, documents and policies of concern to women in computer science. ACM-W is an executive committee of the professional society of ACM, which is the world's primary resource for professionals in the information technology field. For more information on ACM-W, see http://www.acm.org/women/. Recently, ACM dramatically increased its financial support of ACM-W in order to allow ACM-W to launch two new programs: an Internship Program and an Ambassador Program. The Internship Program will hire undergraduate students to assist ACM-W in specific areas, while the Ambassador Program will iden* ACM-member computer scientists in selected targeted countries to be ACM-W Ambassadors. Initially, the ambassadors' duties will be to provide ACM-W with information on programs and people involved in solving the issues related to women in computing and to be responsive to ACM-W's questions regardmg these issues in the ambassador's country. Eventually these first steps will lead ACMW to sponsor international programs and other activities such as international workshops or reports, thus giving ACM-W a strong international presence and ability to impact computing for women worldwide. Acknowledgements This work was supported in part by NSF Grants EIA9812016 and ANI-9996156. REFERENCES Andrews, G. (1995-97) "CRA Taulbee surveys", Compufing Research News,6-9(2).
Amheirn, L. (1997) "IT Companies hcavily courting CS grads", Computing Research News, 9(3), 1-7. Camp, T. (1997) "The incrediblc shrinking pipeline", Communications of the ACM, 40(10), 103-110. Paper is available on-line at at: http:Nwww.niines.edu/fs~liome/tcamp/paper.html Camp, T. (1998) "Survey Says! Results on the incredible shrinking pipeline", Proceedings of the ACM Policy Conference, May 1998. Paper is available on-line at at: http://www.mines.edu/ fs_honie/tcamp/l.csults/paper.html
244
Frenkel, K. (1990) "Women and computing," Communications of the ACM, 33(1 I), 34-46. Gum, D. (1996) "Women's contributions to early computing at
the National Bureau of Standards", ZEEE Annals of the History of Compufing,18(3), 29-35.
Gurer, D. (1995) "Pioneering women in computer science", Communications of the ACM, 38(1), 45-54. Keaton, J. and Hamilton, S. (1996) "Employment 2005: Boom or bust for computer professionals?" IEEE Computer, 29(5), 87-98. Kiesler, S., Sproull, L. and Eccles, J. S. (1985) "Pool Halls, Chips, and War Games: Women in the Culture of Computing", Psychology of Women Quarterly, 9,451-462. NCES (1996) "hojections of education statistics to 2007", National Center for Education Statistics, US. Department of Education, http://www.ed.gov/NCES/pubdpj/index.html, accessed May 1999. Seligsohn, I.J. (1967) Your Career in Computer Programming. Julian Messner (Ed.) Simon and Schuster.
T. Camp and D. Gurer are the current CoChairs of ACM-W. Recently, NSF awarded Dr. Camp and Dr. Gurer a grant to continue their investigation of the incredible shrinking pipeline, to determine the cause behind the decline of women's participation in CS, and to identify solutions. Dr.Camp is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Gurer is a technology developer in the Technology Development Center at 3Com.
