Gender Discrimination in Computer Science, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The following report assesses gender discrimination in the computer science industry. The computer science significantly lacks female workers. Numbers show women represent 24% of the industry, compared to previous years when they represented over 40% of advanced technology fields (Coder 319). This topic is of interest to me because, at its core, gender discrimination in technical fields like computer science represent the frontline of a war on income inequality and the declining middle class.

As global economies grow evermore dependent on technological expansion, programmers and computer scientists and individuals working within these fields gain higher demand within the workplace which helps them acquire greater socioeconomic status. The reason this happens is because wages and quality of life increases for advanced technological positions in response to globalization, specifically in information based markets that are internet driven and have a greater consumer demand compared to non-web-based fields. This is why property values in areas like Silicon Valley are much more expensive than other parts of the U.S. and why the average income in the region reaches upwards of 800K a year. In addition, computer science plays a significant role in the shaping of society. Through computer science, Air traffic controllers keep plains from crashing as computer science is responsible for the creation of the software and hardware that allows that to happen. Computer science and advanced technology fields serve as the central core feature of innovation in society, establishing the foundation on which it runs, and these fields set the trajectory for where the world is headed.

The primary theoretical framework model or recommendation for improving  access to succession within technology fields in a way where women can achieve advancement is identified as a program known as tele-mentoring. When assessing the lack of female presence in advanced technology sectors, it’s important to evaluate the numbers associated with phenomena. This is the exact approach taken by Michela Cozza. “Bridging Gender Gaps, Networking in Computer Science” is a study by Michela Cozza that analyses much of the quantitative data related to gender inequality within the computer science sector and the author proposes recommended solutions. Michela Cozza places emphasis on the effectiveness of “tele-mentoring” to increase the confidence of women. This theoretical model is assessed in addition to a few other models for their efficacy at integrating more women into the computer science sector, and the study will provide a recommendation on the best proposed method based on a collaboration of these models combined with a literature review analysis. The study notes that “characterized by the scarce presence of women, the Computer Science sector is based on a gendered organizational culture that risks reproducing inequality because of hegemonic masculinity and a gender-blind perspective” (Cozza 319). To counteract some of the barriers that are imposed on women, the authors recommend utilizing mentoring and tele-mentoring programs to supplement career development for women are intended to assist women in career development, establishing a (“real” or virtual) space where professional women as mentors and young women as protégées share knowledge and exchange experiences. The mentor may provide advice, support, protection, promotion, and sponsorship, thereby increasing an individual’s capacity by developing her social capital. The construction of a network like this may be useful to support young women’s careers and foster more gender-friendly organizational cultures, especially in scientific and technological sectors. Specific resources should be allocated to mentoring programs to better address issues of underrepresentation of women in science and technology. Such initiatives can be an important factor in bridging gaps and overcoming barriers to advancement faced by women (Cozza 319).

I argue that the decline of women in the computer science fields can entirely be attributed to the ability of gender bias, in gender roles, to manipulate how women perceive themselves and their place in the world and through greater exposure to role models within fields like computer science the misconceptions women have related to these fields, and their place in them, can be improved. The thesis of this research seeks to answer the question what is the current state of gender discrimination in the computer science industry and what are the most significant factors influencing this state; it is the author’s belief that women are phenomenally underrepresented in the computer science field and that through distinct application of theoretical models to influence policy this trend can be offset. Through the information gathered in this research, I seek to prove that the declining presence of women in the computer science industry is primarily due to bias, prejudices and misconceptions that start long before women enter the work industry. I will also provide recommendations for how this phenomenon can be addressed as well as counter arguments on the issue.

Body

Stereotypes, Bias, and Misconceptions

There are many stereotypes and biases related to gender roles that can form misconception about women in the workplace.  For example, men tend to view women as being less aggressive than them and therefore less capable of competing. When women are competitive they are often referred to as behaving manly. This undoubtedly has to have a psychological impact on most women and deter them from entering fields commonly known as male battle grounds. The financial industry, sports, litigation, politics, nearly every industry where women gain success, it seems they lose a portion of their femininity in the public eye based on society’s standards of what it means to be a woman. The field of computer science is no different. In “Computer Science: Too Young to Fall into the Gender Gap,” Anne-Marie Kermarrec debunks many of the myths related to the computer science industry that work as barriers preventing women from entering the field. Anne-Marie Kermarrec confronted misconceptions that have evolved into common beliefs within the computer science industry. The first misconception the author identifies is that computer scientists are perceived as nerds that are pre-occupied with writing lines of code. The author challenges this belief by pointing out there are a variety of models of both male and females who demonstrate the capacity for advanced scientific ability as well as other aspects of life that might not be characteristic of the nerd or geek stereotype applied to computer scientists. These misconceptions impact society on many levels within the workplace and outside the workplace and the problem can largely be attributed to how gender roles influence society.  One example the author uses is Mark Zuckerberg, noting that despite his young appearance, he proves to be a formidable businessman. She further gives reference to innovators like Alan Turing, the father of computer science who also believed in cryptography as well as evolution. She points out that, “Melissa Mayer was the head of the Google Search team before taking up the challenging CEO position at Yahoo. The media periodically accuse her of being too sexy, by the way” (Emarrec 4). In their study, “Economic and Business Dimensions Increasing Gender Diversity in the IT Work Force,” Coder argues that, the main cause for the difference in women programmers and male programmer representation in the workforce has to do with choice. She points out that women don’t chose advanced technology fields because these fields don’t cater to their needs. She states, “career fields are often chosen when a person finds a career that “matches” his or her personality. For example, accountants typically score very high on the Conventional GOT. Accounting jobs typically involve a systematic approach to credits and debits and financial statements” (Coder 25). She argues this significantly impacts how policies need to be drafted in order to encourage women to enter this space.

Coder’s argument that the positions women take in the advanced technology sector largely depend on choice, makes me wonder why women are opting out of entering the computer industry. It could possibly be that they don’t feel welcome within the industry. In his text “Gender codes Why Women Are Leaving computing,” Thomas J. Misa answers this question. Misa makes a very strong argument showing why thinking women don’t fit into the archetype of computer science or advanced technology positions, such as engineering, is a misconception when he says, “women have passionately programmed computers for many decades. Ada Lovelace wrote abstract programs for calculating Bernoulli numbers on Charles Babbage’s Mechanical computer, and six women mathematicians, known as human ‘computers,’ created working programs for the ENIAC computer during the Second World War” (Misa 3). I think the fact that many women are unaware of this history and have established preconceived notions about the field of computer science can be attributed to why they are not entering into advanced technology fields. It could also be argued that another preconceived notion pertaining to computer science is that they code all day long, typing away in boring basement. In society today, this concept is not the most appealing to women, who are encouraged to be social communal extroverts. Kermarrec challenges this view stating that, “yes, computer scientists do write programs. They also design, prove, and test future — even futurist — algorithms, process data ranging from social network posts to biological information, and interact with an endless list of other” (Kermarrec 4). These findings can be attributed much to the lack of role models for women in society who rarely are informed about the characteristics of the individuals. If anything, these authors reinforce the main argument of this research which is that gender roles play a substantial part in contributing to the decline of women in computer science fields. In order for the phenomenon of decline to change, the gender roles have to change first. The problem isn’t that women don’t want to work in these positions, it’s that they don’t publically see what other women are accomplishing within the industry.

Trends in the Workplace

Looking at the data, it seems the most prevailing trend in advanced technology workplace is clearly that women are significantly underrepresented. This can be seen statistically, but what can’t be seen are the intangible factors involved, the interpersonal relationships and interactions within the workplace that influence these statistics positively or negatively on a daily basis. This is what Rolife attempts to address. In Kelsey Rolife’s article, “Fixing Code: How Women are Changing Sexism in the Workplace,” she presents a number of specific cases of professional female programmers and their encounters with gender discrimination in the work place. The author notes that, “today, Sadri is one of four female programmers in a group of 50—a fact that should be stunning, but isn’t. According to recent data from the Information and Communication Technology Council, women make up just 24 percent of the advanced technology sectors workforce in Canada. In the core technology roles, including programmers like Sadri, the number drops to 17 percent” (Rolfe 25). The fact that women are so severely under-represented within the workplace lends to many of the stereotypes associated with technology fields, specifically engineering and computer science. Rolife’s findings correspond with that of many other researchers which reveal that the 24-26% of the advanced technology sector which women currently take up represents a significant drop from past decades. These numbers are staggering and they are a clear indication that there is a problem if you take into account that women were much more present in advanced technology fields thirty years ago. Coder and other authors found that, “in 1983 women, made up approximately 43% of the IT work force according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey” (Coder et al. 25). Despite the fact that women represent a slight majority in a wide range of metropolitan areas, they only made up a little less than half the IT workforce, but it’s understandable considering the different religious and ideological stances women took towards working in the 80’s compared to now. Even now they are likely many families that follow the traditional standard of women as housewives, while men go to work. The problem is now the representation of women in IT fields has dropped from 43% to 26%.  The issue that inevitably can account for this is that technology has exponentially advanced since 1983, but the employment of women in these respective fields sharply declined due to lack of training for these fields.

The real issue that exists that can be seen statistically is the problem with women are not just underrepresented compared to men in the IT workplace, but they are underrepresented compared to the women of the past. This can be seen in Coder’s argument where the author notes by 2008, despite IT work industry more than doubling, the percentage of female workers in IT declined by 26%. The author further notes that, “in comparison, women represented approximately 46% of administrative, science, and technical workers and approximately 42% of all other occupations. A variety of explanations have been offered to account for the small share of women in IT” (Coder et al. 25). Despite this significant decline, research reveals that choice plays a  substantial role in influencing the job choices of women, and their lack of representation in IT fields. Coder and authors argue that sociological initiatives need to be put in place that encourages women to enter the IT field. The research of Bunderson and Christensen reinforces this notion of choice playing a role in the decline as they state, “the average percentage of female freshmen majoring in computer science between 1981 and 1990 was 28%. The average percentage of female seniors majoring in computer science between 1984 and 1993 was 10%” (Bunderson and Christensen 1). They note that these numbers represents the highest rate of female attrition and lowest percentage of female enrollment in the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. This data reveas that there has been a consisted decline from the 80’s to present where women have been slowly leaving the field of study more and more. The outside looker might see this and assume that there is an urgent need to reduce the trend.

College Level Influences

College is a point in the lives of many where they develop their identity and formulate who they will be in their professional lives. One of the pivotal decisions that can happen during this period occurs when people choose their majors. Misa points out that entry into the computer science industry from the college level has played a major role either in their growth in the industry or their decline. Misa states that, “when assessing the big picture across 40 years, when looking at the primary technical professions women entered in the 1960’s women only represented 10% of the undergraduate computer and engineering students seeking technical degrees, but by the 80’s they earned 37% of all U.S. bachelor’s degrees in computing” (Misa, 4). Misa attributes the decline of women entering the computer industry, which was previously mentioned by Coder et al.(25), who notes, “in addition, conversations with the focus group participants emphasized that there are many misconceptions regarding what IT professionals actually do” (Coder et al. 25).  Coder attributed the decline in women in the 1980’s with the intention of studying the computer sciences as a subject. As Coder argued, this was a decline driven primarily by choice on the behalf of the students.

The fact that choice plays such a significant role in the decline of women in the IT workforce means that the decision point have substantial value for those looking to reverse the trend.  The studies demonstrate that the point of encouragement that would be most effective to assist women in the transition from remedial work to entering advanced science and technology fields is the collegiate level. Stoilescu notes that, “previous research revealed a reduced number of female students registered in computer science studies. In addition, the female students feel isolated, have reduced confidence, and underperform” (Stoilescu and McDougall 308). The limitations which gender roles impose on the expectation of women, specifically as it relates to what type of work they perceive is possible for their competitive employment, presents urgent need for policy interventions that can lead to encouraging them to enter new fields.  Ivanovic Mirjana et al., have a similar finding in their study on IT gender gaps despite finding that women are motivated and enthusiastic about computer science. The study, which was carried out in 2011, assessed two years of research on gender issues that arose within student bodies of the University of Novi Sad in the faculty of Science Department. Using statistics and data the study found that women who enter the computer science program are motivated and have overall positive outlooks on their future and interactions with professors and colleagues. The data revealed that “while there is some measure of prevalent gender bias, it had little impact on female student performance” (Mirjana et al 182). The primary issue, which reaffirmed the findings of previous studies was that the number of female student enrollments in computer science fields were dropping significantly every year.

Theory and Recommendations

The idea that women need role models within the IT world suggests that there is value in establishing interpersonal relationships between women within these fields. It also creates an environment where women can potentially benefit from having mentors. This is the exact concept Michela Cozza promotes in her study. Michela Cozza places emphasis on the effectiveness of “tele-mentoring” to increase the confidence of women. Multiple barriers that prevent women from advancing in the workplace” (Cozza 319). These are barriers specifically grounded in conflicts that arise from gender roles and influence the relationship between the work environment and the home. Coder et al make the point that “stereotypes such as low levels of self-confidence as well as minimal exposures to female role models are identified as the major threats” (Coder 25). I think the real advantage of tele-mentoring is that it solves this problem and opens women up to a larger world of potential female role models who perform at the top of their fields. A woman can work in an IT environment where there are no other women, through web resources access a female IT professional in another part of the world who can guide her through challenging issues.

The primary theory behind tele-mentoring is that is can work to provide women with more confidence but there are also aspects of tele-mentoring that keep women informed about trends in their field. For example, Cozza notes that, “there are findings that further support the idea that tele-mentoring could provide significant help in giving women a leg up in advanced technology industries” (Cozza, 319). On the surface, a tele-mentor’s relationship may seem to be just a form of psychological support, but over the course of those conversations mentors can share their knowledge beyond issues like coping with prejudice. These conversations can cover topics like policy or information on improving technical skills. This is most likely why college plays a significant role in the success of women, Jill Denner studied the gender gap within Community colleges and to combat the drop in female Computer Science course enrollment the author notes that, “the results highlight the importance of preparation and interactions with professors for male students, and of motivational, relational, and behavioral factors for female students, specifically peer support, expectations for success in computing, and computer gaming” (Denner et al. 342). The same way establishing sound relationships with professors can benefit the female student to better equip herself for the rigors of computer science studies, a tele-mentor relationship can support her as she works within the actual field. Some key recommendations that evolve out of these findings were an emphasis on the value of mentoring initiatives at the professional as well as college level.

Counter Argument

The above research concludes that the gender gap starts at the collegiate level and that there is a drastic need for females in college to be encouraged to enter computer science majors in college. Kermarrec provides some information hat counters this argument slightly. She points out that in the University of California, Berkeley, there are courses referred to as Beauty and Joy of Computing which are completely modernizing the approach to computer sciences and that report more female enrolment than male. The author points out that “every class begins with the study of an article linked to technology in society or a similar topic. While the goal isn’t only to attract women, anything that can push them away is carefully avoided. Despite the potentially over-glamorous course title, the impact is clear, and is what matters at the end of the day: 106 women and 104 men have enrolled in the class” (Kermarrec 6). This reveals that there is a significant trend developing where computer science programs in college are conscious of the need to encourage women to enter advanced technology fields and are in fact already in the process of making the changes and adapting to the socioeconomic climate. Further countering the argument that gender gaps in the computer science industry starts at the collegiate level is the argument that it actually starts much earlier, specifically in high school. The author states that, “a recent New York Times article about the low number of women in science noted that in elementary school, boys and girls perform equally well in math and science, but when they reach high school, fewer girls take physics and calculus” (Rolfe 27). The author goes on to attribute this data to the fact that boys are encouraged by parents and teachers to work hard and struggle through difficult courses in high school while females are not given the same support. These findings counter the argument that the pivotal place to counter the gender gap starts at the collegiate level.

In regards to work, the argument about college as the frontline to battle the gender gap is also challenged by Lean Coder who in a survey of both men and women in the workplace argued the issue can be resolved simply by making computer science positions more social. The author states, “their experiences suggest many IT jobs can be redesigned in ways that are more attractive to women by emphasizing the artistic, social, and conventional dimensions of the tasks they require” (Coder 27).The argument that the gender wage gap is largely related to make employers and their prejudices towards women in favor of men is also countered by date found within Allyn’s research. The author notes that, “to some extend the male-female differences in wages may be related to the kinds of jobs and the types of computer applications they use. It seems likely, for example, that returns to jobs and the types of computer applications they use. It seems likely, for example, that returns to jobs in which the work is routine may be lower than it is for jobs that are not” (Allyn 40). This argument is counter to the belief that women are paid less for the same work and suggests that in situations where women are paid less it can be attributed to the fact that they are doing remedial work.

Conclusion

In sum, Computer science as an industry has grown to be excessively competitive. Twitter’s record breaking IPO, followed up by Alibaba claiming the title for the largest Global IPO in history, and companies like Facebook and LinkedIn, and topics like Bitcoin and other digital currencies, dominating the news every day, one might think the world is entirely made up of ones and zeros. It’s starting to seem like advanced technology fields are the only future that matters and if you don’t speak in code you don’t have a voice in the dialogues shaping the world.  The primary argument these authors make through critical analysis is that women are declining in these critically important advanced technology fields because they are allowing gender roles to shape how they view the positions and themselves. Family structure plays a tremendous role in access to resources for women and establishing gender bias environments. Harbored prejudices and bias are already embedded into the fabric of patriarchal society. This results in contradictory behavior on the part of both men and women where men are less likely to pay women their fair due, and they are likely to take on roles that don’t are counterproductive to healthy family life.

Women are subjected to gender roles that amount to pressurized situations where they feel obligated to enter fields that won’t impose on family life and it’s frowned upon when they progress in the workplace. In addition to investing in programs and resources that can enable women to progress professionally, the authors argue that equality starts in the workplace. Applying this awareness is especially critical in computer science fields where women are substantially under represented.

Work Cited

Allyn, Mark. “Computers, Gender, and Pay.” Montclair State University. (2003) Bunderson, Eileen D., and Mary Elizabeth Christensen. “An analysis of retention problems for female students in university computer science programs.” Journal of Research on Computing in Education 28.1 (1995): 1-18.

Cozza, Michela. “Bridging gender gaps, networking in computer Science.” Gender, Technology and Development 15.2 (2011): 319-337.

Denner, Jill, et al. “Community College Men and Women A Test of Three Widely Held Beliefs About Who Pursues Computer Science.” Community College Review (2014): 0091552114535624.

Kermarrec, Anne-Marie. “Computer Science: Too Young to Fall into the Gender Gap” IEEE Internet Computing.2014.

Mirjana, Ivanovic, et al. “The IT Gender Gap: Experience, Motivation and Differences in Undergraduate Studies of Computer Science.” Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education 12.2 (2011): 170-186.

Misa, T. J. (Ed.). (2011). Gender codes: Why women are leaving computing. John Wiley & Sons.

Rolfe, Kelsey, “Fixing Code: How Women Are Changing Sexism In The Workplace.” Herizons (2014): 25-27.

Stoilescu, Dorian, and Douglas McDougall. “Gender digital divide and challenges in undergraduate computer science programs.” Canadian Journal of Education/Revue canadienne de l’éducation 34.1 (2011): 308-333.