A Study On Computer Science

Women are obtaining more then half of the bachelor degrees earned in America but that has not limited the earning and abilities of the working class man. Phyllis Rosser’s, Too Many Women in College? (2005) is used to expose the still continuing gender issues in higher education. It exposes the issue that yes, there are more women then men in undergrad and master’s programs but men are still outnumbering women in doctoral programs as well as higher paying fields of study (engineering, computer science, business). Still regardless of education women will still face the income gap. Comparing Lee’s and Shaw’s conclusion to the study by Investing in Futures Public Higher Education in America, Women in Higher Education both sources have come to the conclusion that women make up over half of students enrolled in undergrad and their is an uneven representation of women in math and science based degree programs. Janet Lee’s and Susan M. Shaw’s, Women’s Voices Feminist Visions Classic and Contemporary Readings is an accredited and well developed source that highlights the development of women’s

Personal Statement “Stop studying math so hard, girl. How will math help you?” My high school classmate Yijie jeered at me when I told him I wanted to major in mathematics and computer science. “Such complex subjects are just not suitable for women.” Although Yijie was not an old-fashioned person, he insisted that women were inferior in high technology fields. In my country, China, this gender stereotype still affects women’s lives, from major placement decision to their career path choice. I strongly oppose this constraining opinion, and firmly believe that women are capable to make great achievements in modern high technology as men do. Therefore, I made up my mind to show people that women can also succeed in mathematics and computer science.

With my zero knowledge of computer science and coding, I took the challenge of taking AP Computer Science Principle. In the class, we create apps for android phones and learn about the use of the Internet. As I go into class everyday, I notice how there is only 5 girls (including myself) and 24 boys in the class. Not a lot of female students take the course of computer science. Usually, when thinking of computers, most people think of it as a “guy’s job”, no girls good enough to do

The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a complex problem that continues to persist at the postsecondary level, particularly in computer science and engineering fields. It is commonly assumed that female role models improve women’s beliefs that they can be successful in STEM. The current work tests this assumption. Two experiments varied role model gender and whether role

Women in Technology Computer science is, in comparison to most sciences, a relatively new field starting as early as the 1930’s for military based projects and eventually adapting in the early 1980’s to the personal computers we have today. If we were to look into a “brief history of computers starting with the 1950’s we would see huge series of cathode tubes and switches taking up entire rooms. These computers were designed for military intelligence and predominantly comprised of computing long calculations run by paper punch cards and manual switches.” (Ceruzzi pg. 28)

Women in STEM Fields In a speech in February 2013 President Barak Obama said, “One of the things that I really strongly believe in is that we need to have more girls interested in math, science, and engineering. We’ve got half the population that is way underrepresented in those fields and

White and Asian workers make up 88% of all science and engineering jobs. The chart above shows scientists and engineering occupations in 2013. There is a common belief that we do not see many women and minorities in tech because  that there are simply not enough female and minority students studying math and science.

On the other hand, sitting in my courses left a feeling of unwelcoming atmosphere and isolation. Almost the same exact feeling as I catch when walking into interviews. I currently do not work in my field. To have majored in such a dominating male industries, I had to work harder than others and develop valuable connections. Computer Science/Technology continues to be a white collar industry dominated by males for numerous centuries. This industry is gender bias and discriminates against women. As a result, there are not many women in the computing profession.

Men are the people who have the most rank in technical skills. There has not been any growth in jobs in STEM since 2000 for women. It has been said that the pattern may begin in early education. Females may not be encouraged to study math and science as much as males are encouraged to do so. Very few of females who earn bachelor’s degree do so in the area of STEM. However, slightly over half of bachelor’s degrees are earned by women. Many people believe that females lack the intelligence to be successful in STEM. Others believe women do better in skills such as education, and humanitarian roles such as doctor’s an lawyers. Sometimes women themselves believe that men have what it takes to be successful in STEM. Sometimes females have “self-esteem”

Although computer industries have grown exponentially, there still remains a shortage of quality computer science graduates to support this growth. This is more pronounced amongst female graduates who are less attracted to this field. The challenges in computer science are well documented, with studies suggesting that female’s

Andresse St. Rose, Christianne Corbett, and Catherine Hill, are actively involved in the field of female studies in education and researchers for The American Association of University Women. In their 2010 book titled Why so Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, the first chapter is the book’s namesake

At the beginning of my senior year, my former Integrated Business teacher presented me with an opportunity to be the president of her newly founded organization, Females in Information Technology, since she firmly confided in my leadership capabilities. Despite my previous years of being timid, I accepted her invitation to be president because I was inspired to be apart of such an extraordinary organization which promotes gender diversity in the information technology field. For many years, there has been gender disparity within this field of study. Unfortunately, women do not pursue information

Diversity Statement The role of diversity in Computer Science (CS) has recently been brought into focus. Reports from top technology companies (e.g., Google, Facebook) indicate that we have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure truly diverse workforces in the technology sector. I was particularly troubled by two findings in these reports: (1) the incredibly low fraction of women relative to men (15-17% vs. 83-85%); and (2) underrepresentation of the “Hispanic” and “Black” communities (together less than 7%). Reading more about this topic helped me understand what the core issues were. One such issue, that needs to be tackled at the early stages of education, is that of getting more school children (especially from underrepresented populations) interested in CS.

In order to get my point across of the need of more women in Computer Science, the best group to present my solution to is towards the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District. In addition, the school district is great in order to keep it to a local community and present the need to involve all schools to promote some computer related course for all students. This is important because according to a research by the University of Washington, “children express the stereotype that mathematics is for boys, not for girls, as early as second grade” (McElroy 2011). The typical age for the second grade is seven years old and to think that seven years olds already have the mindset of stereotyping at such a young age is astonishing. Consequently, mathematics are very important to Computer Science and at early ages of stereotypes, this would certainly not help the outcome of women in computer-related degrees for the future.

areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics employers are not getting enough women (Pozniak). High school girls only represent 17 percent of computer science Advance Placement (AP) test takers (O'Shea). The most significant group of minorities who are behind in earning computer technology degrees and working in science and mathematical professions are women. “Historically, women’s low representation in science and engineering was said to be due in large part of their lack of ability, interest, or both” (Horning 30). However, this is no longer a true fact according to Ward. Some suggestions to increasing the amount of women in sciences include introducing already present women faculty as mentors. Over the last three decades,