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A historical examination of the social factors affecting female participation in computing

Published: 21 June 2014 Publication History

Abstract

We present a history of female participation in North American CS, with a focus on the social forces involved. For educators to understand the status quo, and how to change it, we must understand the historical forces that have led us here. We begin with the female ''computers'' of the 19th century, then cover the rise of computing machines, establishment of CS, and a history of CS education with regard to gender. In our discussion of academic CS, we contemplate academic generations of female computer scientists and describe their differential experiences.

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  1. A historical examination of the social factors affecting female participation in computing

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    Jonathan K. Millen

    Barriers to women in computing have existed at least since Ada Lovelace programmed Babbage's analytical engine. This brief historical survey, bolstered by 55 references, traces the evolution of women's opportunities for education and careers in computer science (CS) from the 1820s to the present, primarily in North America. While Byron's daughter and Grace Hopper are mentioned, this history focuses on broad social acceptance rather than on individuals. The milestones in this history mark stages in computing, such as wartime cryptanalysis, the birth of CS departments, the dot-com bubble, and personal computing. Yet the social factors seem very much like those one sees in broader articles about women's intellectual and career opportunities: “women's work,” the glass ceiling, and the disproportionate effect of economic swings on women. Some constructive suggestions are given, such as blind reviewing, to help offset gender barriers. This is an exceptional survey that weaves multiple themes together in a short space. If there is any deficiency, it is perhaps that it is unclear how CS might be different from other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, or the work force generally, in this matter. Online Computing Reviews Service

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    ITiCSE '14: Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Innovation & technology in computer science education
    June 2014
    378 pages
    ISBN:9781450328333
    DOI:10.1145/2591708
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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    Published: 21 June 2014

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    Author Tags

    1. computer science education
    2. studies of cs
    3. women in cs

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    • (2024)Playing with Matches: Adopting Gale--Shapley for Managing Student Enrollments Beyond CS2Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3626252.3630906(1084-1090)Online publication date: 7-Mar-2024
    • (2023)Learning Math Through Coding and Learning Coding Through Math: Two Sides of the Same CoinCanadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education10.1007/s42330-022-00254-x22:4(974-985)Online publication date: 18-Jan-2023
    • (2022)Female Enrolment in High School Computer Science CoursesResearch Anthology on Feminist Studies and Gender Perceptions10.4018/978-1-6684-4511-2.ch007(115-128)Online publication date: 2022
    • (2022)Coding and climate change: Investigating prospective teachers’ pathways of attentionThe Journal of Mathematical Behavior10.1016/j.jmathb.2022.10101468(101014)Online publication date: Dec-2022
    • (2021)Female Enrolment in High School Computer Science CoursesHandbook of Research on Equity in Computer Science in P-16 Education10.4018/978-1-7998-4739-7.ch003(31-43)Online publication date: 2021
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