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CS Programs Changing to Attract Women Students

Posted by Zonk on from the too-much-y-already dept.

Magnifico writes "The New York times is running an article about a push by American universities to actively recruit women into Computer Science courses. The story, 'Computer Science Takes Steps to Bring Women to the Fold', explains that the number of women in CS is shrinking: 'Women received about 38 percent of the computer science bachelor's degrees awarded in the United States in 1985, the peak year, but in 2003, the figure was only about 28 percent, according to the National Science Foundation.' One of the largest barriers to recruiting women to the field is the nerd factor. To attract women students to the CS field, 'Moving emphasis away from programming proficiency was a key to the success of programs Dr. Blum and her colleagues at Carnegie Mellon instituted to draw more women into computer science.' Changes at CMU increased women students in the CS program from 8 percent to nearly 40 percent."

1 of 596 comments (clear)

  1. the nerd factor by learithe · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The other side of the "nerd factor":
    Attractive women in the field aren't taken seriously.

    I have a friend, who is a very beautiful, stylish woman who was graduating at the top of her class in computer science at UCSC during the height of the dot-com boom. We went to a job fair, and stopped at a booth for Nokia. The guy running the booth looked her up and down, and asked "Are you looking for a receptionist position?".

    With that sort of attitude towards us, is it any wonder we don't stay?