There Are Too Few Women in Computer Science and Engineering

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 06:00:00 GMT
Scientific American - Technology

It’s not that they aren’t interested; it’s the culture of these fields and how they exclude women...

Only 20 percent of computer science and 22 percent of engineering undergraduate degrees in the U.S. go to women.

Why are so few women entering these fields? A common explanation is that women are less interested than men in computer science and engineering.

Instead, we think that changing the male-oriented image and cultures of engineering and computer science will draw more young women into these fields.

In a paper we recently published, we found that young children and adolescents in the U.S., like adults, believe that girls are less interested than boys in computer science and engineering.

Girls who strongly endorse these stereotypes show the lowest interest in computer science and engineering.

Many young women express more interest in pursuing computer science when their classroom does not reflect current stereotypes.

Beyond students' perceptions, the actual masculine culture of computer science and engineering also contributes to women's underrepresentation.

In our research, we document that computer science and engineering have "Masculine defaults." These are features that reward, or set as the standard, characteristics and behaviors commonly associated with being male.

Women earned a significantly higher proportion of undergraduate computer science degrees-37 percent in 1984-than they do today.

Today, more women pursue computer science careers in countries with less male-oriented images of computer science, such as Malaysia and Armenia.

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