November 2007 — News
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Women Lose Ground in IT, Computer Science
Women are falling further behind in information technology and computer science, according to a new report released by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). The study, the NCWIT Scorecard, compiled data on girls and women in computer science and IT as students at the K-12 and post-secondary levels, as well as women working as professionals in IT and as faculty in computer science in higher education. It painted a fairly bleak picture of the situation in the United States, where women make up the drastic minority of participants in science- and technology-related studies and where that minority shrinks further the higher one looks up the academic and corporate ladder.
Girls in K-12: More Math, Less Interest in Comp Sci
The findings of the inaugural report showed that, starting in K-12 education, girls seem to have an advantage over boys in coursework but do not pursue careers or majors in information sciences. While girls have, on the whole, more experience in their K-12 educations in math and some engineering areas than boys, only 1 percent of females taking the SATs in 2006 indicated an interest in pursuing computer and information sciences as an intended major. And females made up only 15 percent of those taking AP computer science tests in that same year (18 percent in Computer Science A, 10 percent in Computer science AB). In fact, in all STEM-related AP tests, females made up a majority only in the Biology and Environmental Sciences categories (as well as Psychology, if you care to count that in the STEM category).
Meanwhile, in actual coursework in K-12, girls had more algebra, trig, pre-calc, and other math courses than boys (among SAT exam takers). They tied with boys in calculus and were behind (40 percent) in "computer math." Girls also had more honors math (54 percent) than boys and more years of math study.
"Why don't more young women take an interest in computer science? Perhaps due to a lack of awareness, combined with misconceptions about the field," the report suggested. "In one study of high school calculus students, only 2 percent could accurately describe what a computer science major studies. And several studies have shown that more female than male students worry that a computing degree will not allow them to work with people. Even women with very high mathematics ability may be more likely than men to believe computer science is too difficult."
The report stressed the role of encouragement, particularly written and public forms of encouragement, to motivate students to pursue STEM-related fields--which apparently hasn't been happening too often, judging by the number of STEM-related degrees awarded to women.
Women in Higher Ed: the Minority of STEM Degrees
While, on the whole, women received about 60 percent of all degrees awarded by colleges and universities in the United States in the 2005/2006 school year, only 11 percent of bachelor's degrees in computer engineering and 15 percent in computer science went to women.
