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ACM Blames the PC For Driving Women Away From Computer Science

Posted by timothy on from the how-you-slice-and-dice-the-factors dept.

theodp (442580) writes "Over at the Communications of the ACM, a new article — Computing's Narrow Focus May Hinder Women's Participation — suggests that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs should shoulder some of the blame for the dearth of women at Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter and other tech companies. From the article: "Valerie Barr, chair of ACM's Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W), believes the retreat [of women from CS programs] was caused partly by the growth of personal computers. 'The students who graduated in 1984 were the last group to start college before there was personal computing. So if you were interested in bioinformatics, or computational economics, or quantitative anthropology, you really needed to be part of the computer science world. After personal computers, that wasn't true any more.'" So, does TIME's 1982 Machine of the Year deserve the bad rap? By the way, the ACM's Annual Report discusses its participation in an alliance which has helped convince Congress that there ought to be a federal law making CS a "core subject" for girls and boys: "Under the guidance of the Education Policy Committee, ACM continued its efforts to reshape the U.S. education system to see real computer science exist and count as a core graduation credit in U.S. high schools. Working with the CSTA, the National Center for Women and Information Technology, NSF, Microsoft, and Google, ACM helped launch a new public/private partnership under the leadership of Code.org to strengthen high school level computing courses, improve teacher training, engage states in bringing computer science into their core curriculum guidelines, and encourage more explicit federal recognition of computer science as a key discipline in STEM discussions.""

10 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. The problem, as always... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    boils down to a general lack of self-confidence in women. From the article:

    "Boys fall in love with computers as machines; girls see them as tools to do something else," said Barbara Ericson, a senior research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology who tracks the AP exam. "Then girls think, Ãmaybe I don't belong because I don't love them like the boys do.Ã(TM)"

    Whether that lack of self-confidence is instilled by society, is somehow genetically innate to females, or a combination of the two, *that* is what is behind the lack of women in STEM fields. We need to work on ways to improve our self confidence and the rest will follow.

    1. Re:The problem, as always... by Sperbels · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Same. My lack of self confidence is what caused me to spent all my time with my c-64 instead of people.

    2. Re:The problem, as always... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      NOTHING YOU DO IS GOING TO CHANGE THAT SHORT OF GENETIC ENGINEERING.

      Stop trying to turn it into a fucking social issue, its a god damn evolution issue. WE ARE NOT ALL THE SAME.

      We are not all the same, but it is a fucking social issue. From my experience math is a pretty girly thing. That is until the parents step in or teachers. Mostly parents though. School teachers with this mentality are mostly retired by now (here). A friend of mine is still an outcast in her family, because she not only liked math, but she also studied computer sciences which was ok for her brother, but not for her. In the eyes of her family that screwed her chances for a good classical marriage. Or girls that get hoarded into the puppet house and Lego friends corner in the Lego store when they have Lego technics sets in their hand.

      You can really imprint a lot in the early years. Like math is hard. This is stuff for males and this is only for female. It might not end 50/50, but you sure can raise social barriers so that stuff wont be tried.

      Btw. most men don't want to spent all day dicking with computers either.

  2. So... by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So women stopped studying computer science because they didn't have to anymore? That certainly sounds like a crime against humanity.

  3. why can the world by ganjadude · · Score: 3, Interesting

    simply not accept that men and women are different, and like different things? this is getting really creepy how obsessed some people are these days with other peoples lives.

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    1. Re:why can the world by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Interesting

      But why do they like different career paths?

      I'm going to posit that women are smarter about accepting abusive work conditions than men are. 90-hour weeks where you sleep at your desk and get free Mountain Dew and a game of pinball in a few times during a death march is an abusive situation.

      What I really don't get is why some women want so badly to put other women in these situations when they're already winning. I guess what we need is more women entrepreneurs, to run companies sanely. Or men to grow a pair and tell their masters to kiss off so that tech work environments can become places where women would feel welcome.

      Yeah, smoke on that one - when you work unpaid overtime you're being hostile towards women.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re:why can the world by bistromath007 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I think the whole issue is that depending on what the reason is, it is a problem. What's really wrong on both sides of it is that people tend to just assume it is our isn't a problematic reason, without actually getting one anywhere but their ass.

    3. Re:why can the world by poity · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Perhaps women have the luxury and privilege of not losing attractiveness when working low-paying jobs. Perhaps men are the victims of a society that forces them to over-work and be over-competitive because women ultimately select whose genes are passed on and whose are not. Perhaps this competitiveness is why men will take on more hard jobs, fight for more raises, and suffer the abuses.

      Is female materialism driving men into high wage jobs? Maybe there should be a federal law to address this...

      --
      your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
  4. Here's a thought, lets ask actual women by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yknow, like Susan "HedgeMage" Sons? She certainly had some choice words about this entire tempest in a teacup.

    Also it's worth pointing out that computer science degrees are something like 10% of all degrees conferred in the US, and women utterly *dominate* every single aspect of education from K12 through college, even earning nearly 2/3rds of all bachelors degrees. I would think the fact men are barely over 1/3rd of college graduates in the first place is a bit of a bigger problem than what major women choose.

    --
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    1. Re:Here's a thought, lets ask actual women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      women do not test higher.. they are simply given GIVEN more opportunity..
      They get points on entrance exams and they get gender based scholarships that men have no access to.
      It isn't that men don't want to go to college.. THEY CANT AFFORD TO .. OR THEY CAN'T GET IN WHEN THEIR SEAT IS TAKEN..

      you need to read the stats closer if you want to understand why women have dominated post secondary education since 1985 ...

      and also understand how many women became lawyers .. who dedicated themselves to suing over gender issues...
      when it wasn't gender.. it was the fact women do not work at their jobs.