*****  Computer Select, April 1991 : Doc #23738  *****

Journal:   Communications of the ACM  Nov 1990 v33 n11 p34(13)
           * Full Text COPYRIGHT Association for Computing Machinery 1990.
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Title:     Women and computing. (includes related article on a study of
           gender-related studies of computing) (Cover Story)
Author:    Frenkel, Karen A.

Summary:   There is much evidence that many women going into careers in
           computing drop out of academia or elect not to get advanced
           degrees and enter industry instead.  Statistics also show that
           there are disproportionately small numbers of women in the
           computer industry and in academic computer science.  Many
           researchers feel that girls and women are uncomfortable with the
           computer culture, which emphasizes almost obsessive, highly
           focused behavior as the key to success.  Other studies note that
           the expectations and stereotypes of software designers are at the
           root of the male bias in software.  Observers contend that women
           view computers as tools instead of toys.  Current computer science
           curricula place an emphasis on step-by-step division of functions
           and women tend to lose interest.  Software packages help women see
           the purpose of computers and allow them to perform functional
           tasks quickly.
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Descriptors..
Topic:     Computer science
           Women
           Social Issues
           Statistical Analysis
           Employment
           Computer industry
           Computer Education.
Feature:   illustration
           table.
Caption:   Computer science degrees awarded in the United States. (table)
           Bureau of Labor statistics on persons employed in computing.
           (table)
           1988-89 Taulbee survey data for all faculty. (table)

Record#:   09 594 043.
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*Note*    Only Text is presented here; see printed issues for graphics.
Full Text:

WOMEN & COMPUTING

There is mounting evidence that many women opting for careers in computing
either drop out of the academic pipeline or choose not to get advanced
degrees and enter industry instead.  Consequently, there are
disproportionately low numbers of women in academic computer science and the
computer industry.  The situation may be perpetuated for several generations
since studies show that girls from grade school to high school are losing
interest in computing.

Statistics, descriptions offered by women in academic and industrial
computing, and the research findings reported later in this article indicate
that much is amiss.  But the point of what follows is not to place
blame--rather it is to foster serious reflection and possibly instigate
action.  It behooves the computer community to consider whether the
experiences of women in training are unique to computer science.  We must ask
why the computer science laboratory or classroom is "chilly" for women and
girls.  If it is demonstrated that the problems are particular to the field,
it is crucial to understand their origins.  The field is young and flexible
enough to modify itself.  These women are, of course, open to the charge that
they describe the problems of professional women everywhere.  But even if the
juggling acts of female computer scientists in both academia and industry are
not particular to computing American society cannot afford to ignore or
dismiss their experiences; there is an indisputable brain drain from this
leading-edge discipline.

A look at statistics reveals a disquieting situation.  Accordingly to Betty
M. Vetter, executive director of the Commission on Professionals in Science
and technology in Washington, DC, while the number of bachelor's and master's
degrees in computer science are dropping steadily for both men and women,
degrees awarded to women are dropping faster, so they are becomming a smaller
and smaller proportion of the total.  Bachelor's degrees peacked at 35.7% in
1986, masters also peaked that year at 29.9%, and both are expected to
continue to decline.  "We have expected the numbers to drop for both, due to
demographics such as fewer college students," says Vetter, "but degrees
awarded women are declining long before reaching parity."  (See Table I.)
Vetter also would have expected computer science to be "a great field for
women," as undergraduate mathematics has been; female math majors have earned
45% of bachelor's degrees during the 1980s.  On the other hand, math Ph.
D.'s awarded to women have gone from only 15.5% to 18.1% in this decade,
which is more in line with computer science Ph.D.'s earned by women.  In
1987, 14.4% of all computer science Ph.D's went to women; this number
declined to 10.9% the following year.  Although the number almost doubled
between 1988 and 1989 with women receiving 17.5% of Ph.D's, Vetter points out
that the number remains very small, at 107.  Since these figures include
foreign students who are principally male, women constitute a smaller
percentage of that total than they do of Ph.D's awarded to Americans.  But
while American women received 21.4% of Ph.D's awarded to Americans, that is
not encouraging either, says Vetter.  Again, the number of American women
awarded computer science Ph.D.'s was minuscule, at 72.  And taking a longer
view, the awarding of significantly fewer bachelor's and master's degrees to
women in the late 1980s will be felt in seven to eight years, when they would
be expected to receive their Ph.D.'s.

How do these figures compare with those of other sciences and engineering?
In her 1989 report to the National Science Foundation, "Women and Computer
Science," Nancy Leveson, associate professor of information and computer
science at the University of California at Irvine, reports that in 1986,
women earned only 12% of computer science doctorates compared to 30% of all
doctorates awarded to women in the sciences.  Leveson notes, however, that
this includes the social sciences and phychology, which have percentages as
high as 32 to 50.  But the breakout for other fields is as follows: physical
sciences (16.4%), math (16.6%), eletrical engineering (4.9%), and other
engineering ranges from 0.8% for aeronautical to 13.9% for industrial.

Those women who do get computer science degrees ae not pursuing careers in
academic computer scinces.  Leveson says women are either not being offered
or are not accepting faculty positions, or are dropping out of the faculty
ranks.  Looking at data taken from the 1988-89 Taulbee Survey, which appeared
in Communications in September, Leveson points out that of the 158 computer
science and computer engineering departments in that survey, 6.5 percent of
the faculty are female.  One third of the departments have no female faculty
at all.  (See Tables III and IV.)

Regarding women in computing in the labor force, Vetter comments that the
statistics are very soft.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics asks companies for
information on their workforce, and the NSF asks individuals for their
professional identification; therefore estimates vary.  Table II shows that
this year, women comprise about 35% of computer scientists in industry.  And
according to a 1988 NSF report on women and minorities, although women
represents 49% of all professionals, they make up only 30% of employed
computer scientists.  "There is no reason whey women should not make up half
the labor force in computing," Betty Vetter says, "It's not as if computing
involves lifting 125 pound weights."

The sense of isolation and need for a community was so keen among women in
computing, that in 1987 several specialists in operating systems created
their own private forum and electronic mailing list called "Systers."
Founded and operated by Anita Borg, member of the research staff at DEC's
Western Research Lab, Systers consists of over 350 women representing many
fields within computing.  They represent 43 companies and 55 universities
primarily in the United States, but with a few in Canada, the United Kingdom,
and France.  Industry members are senior level and come from every major
research lab.  University members range from computer science undergraduates
to department chairs.  Says Borg, "Systers' purpose is to be a forum for
discussion of both the problems and joys of women in our field and to provide
a medium for networking and mentoring."  The network prevents these women,
who are few and dispersed, from feeling that they alone experience certain
problems.  Says Borg, "You can spit out what you want with this group and get
women's perspectives back.  You get a sense of community."  It is sexist to
have an all-women's forum?  "Absolutely not," says Borg, "It's absolutely
necessary.  We didn't want to include men because there is different way that
women talk when they're talking with other women, whether it be in person or
over the net.  Knowing that we are all women is very important."
(Professional women in computer science who are interested in the Systers
mailing list may send email to systers-request@decwrl.dec.com)

The burden from women in computing seems to be very heavy indeed.
Investigators in gender-related research, and women themselves, say females
experience cumulative disadvantages from grade school through graduate school
and beyond.  Because statistical studies frequently come under fire and do
not always explain the entire picture, it is important to listen to how women
themselves tell their story.  In the Sidebar entitled "Graduate School in the
Early 80s," women describe experiences of invisibility, patronizing behavior,
doubted qualifications, and so on.  Given these experiences, it is not
surprising that many women find the academic climate inclement.  But while
more women may choose to contribute to research in industry, is the computer
business really a haven for women, or just the only alternative?  In the
Sidebar entitled "The Workplace in the late '80s," women in industry also
tell their story and describe dilemmas in a dialogue on academia versus
industry; this discussion erupted freely last Spring on Systers.  In
addition, findings of scholars conducting gender-related research are
presented in a report of a workshop on women and computing.  Finally,
Communications presents "Becoming a Computer Scientist: A Report by the ACM
Committee on the Status of Women in Computer Science."  A draft was presented
at the workshop and the report appears in its entirety in this issue.

Report on a Meeting

To probe further into the reasons why girls and women are not pursuing
computing in the same numbers as boys and men, and to recommend ways to
reverse this trend, a workshop was held at the National Educational Computing
Conference last June.  This year, this influential and decade-old conference
drew 2,414 authorities in computing and education and 1,500 people from
industry.  Entitled "In Search of Gender-Free Paradigms for Computer Science
Education," the workshop was organized and chaired by C. Dianne Martin, an
assistant professor at George Washington University's Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science department.  It's specific goal was to examine the
premise that the decline in the number of women selecting computer science
majors can be attributed to a male-oriented paradigm in the field.  Martin
invited 12 scholars (See Workshop Participants, p.) conducting gender-related
research in computer science education to present their latest findings and
to participate in brainstorming sessions that resulted in recommendations.
Hightlights of the day-long workshop follow.

In her opening statement, Martin noted that many researchers observe that the
computer culture is uncomfortable for girls and women.  They are ill at ease
in a field that seems to encourage "highly focused, almost obsessive
behavior," as the key to success she said, summarizing comments by Eric
Roberts at a recent Washington student society (Pugwash) meeting.  She also
alluded to perceived sex biases in the profession, citing two recent national
statistical studies of female engineering students engineering students by
Eleonor Baum, Dean of the School of Engineering at Cooper Union.  Baum's
investigations showed that 70% of women felt they had to work harder than
their male counterparts to get comparable pay, 58% felt that harassment of
some sort was prevalent in the workplace, 50% felt that they viewed ethical
issues differently than did their male counterparts, 39% felt they would be
penalized if they took maternity leave, and a whopping 78% felt they received
comparable pay when they started, but were not promoted as rapidly.  A third,
independent study supported the last belief; while women started out with
comparable pay, within 10 years they were 25% behind their male counterparts.
(Businessweek 8/28/89)

Chaos In Computer

Classrooms

Lesley S. Klein, instructor of information systems at Pace University and a
computer science teacher in middle school and high school, described the
chaotic state of computer science education throughout pre-college levels.
Working under the auspices of the Board of Cooperative Educational Services,
funded by New York State Department of Education, Klein observes upper middle
income schools of this public school system.  Despit its relative wealth,
there is often a low budget for computer science and no curriculum, she said.
Computing is taught by teachers' aides or by media center administrators who
have had in-service training.  "Occasionally students are fortunate to have a
classroom teacher who has an interest in computers as a hobby or has taken
some computer education courses," Klein reports in her paper, "Female
Students' Under-achievement in Computer Science and Mathematics: Reasons and
Recommendations."  "Some more adventurous teachers have incorporated LOGO or
Lego Logo programming into the curriculum, but there is no apparent formal
plan nor carryover from one grade level to the next," Klwin continues.  There
are neither goals nor minimum standards established for both teacher training
and the material to be covered.  Not until the seventh and eight grades does
the study of computers, logic, or BASIC programming emerge.  PASCAL and C
programming and introductions to data processing are offered in secondary
schools, but there is still great variation in instructors' backgrounds and
levels of competence.  Some are math teachers, have master's degrees in
computer science, or have taken graduate courses, but others are industrial
arts teachers who have received minimal training.  On the other hand,
sometimes industrial arts teachers are better qualified than math teachers.
Although high school curricula for computer literacy and computer science
courses do exists (ACM made several recommendations on curricula five years
ago and plans to revise them by 1991) there is little support to implement
them and there is no uniformity from state to state.

But one would expect this sorry state of affairs to affect boys and girls
equally.  Not so.  According to Klein, girls "demonstrate more insecurity and
lack of self-confidence in math and science during transition periods" like
entering middle school and entering high school.  In middle school, for
example, boys use pirated software, she says, and the girls follow the school
rules and are in the boys' way.  "The computers are always consumed by the
boys who rush in, desperate to continue where they left off the day before in
Oregon Trail, Karateka, or Carmen San Diego.  An occasional girl wanders in,
but would practically need interference from the heavens to gain access to
these monopolized computers," Klein says.  Given these different styles of
behavior, Klein sees the need for a formal computer science curriculum for
grades seven through twelve as well as mandatory requirement that every high
school student take an introduction to computer science.  Because many in the
educational community are unaware that recommended curricula exist, Klein
stresses the need for support for the distribution and implementation of
curricula.  In addition, there should be more uniform teacher training that
improves computer skills and lesson presentation while "specifically
addressing the motivation of female students."

Women and Girls of Color

The problems in computer science education for girls in well-to-do schools
are substantial, but they are mild in comparison to those that girls from
minority groups face in their schools.  Carol E. Edwards, of the Southern
Coalition for Educational Equity, Atlanta, Georgia, addressed the
implications of the computer culture for girls and women of color.  As the
director of Project Micro, Edwards runs a program devoted to making personal
computers available to minority children and to using those computers to
teach higher-order thinking skills.  The educational opportunities for these
women and girls are so poor, she said, that they amount to racial, ethnic,
and class discrimination.  Both boys and girls of color go to schools with
low teacher expectations, more substitute teachers, less experienced
teachers, and frequent relegation to lower educational tracks.  In math, for
example, girls of color are disproportionately represented on slower tracks.

Tracking itself is part of systemic problems in minority schools; it is an
example of structural practices that remain instituted even though they have
been shown to benefit only the top one % of students, Edwards said.  Besides
these educational barriers, both boys and girls of color face cultural