Unlocking the Clubhouse : Women in Computing

Rating:
Summary: The definitive book on the subject!
Review: This engaging book describes some of the best research I've seen in the 30 years I've worked in the area of increasing the participation of girls and women in math, science and technology. Now folks, it's past time to put what we know into action! Read the book and get inspired.

Rating:
Summary: Explaining the Lack of Women in Computer Science Majors
Review: This is an important book for everyone concerned about the causes and consequences of the nation's failure to attract undergraduate women into computer science. Margolis and Fishers' well-structured, longitudinal study is the first to explore multiple dimensions of this issue in careful detail, and their findings counter causal myths (e.g., about the "natural" distribution of interest and aptitude) that can inhibit or
misdirect remedial efforts. Some roots of the recruitment problem lie in the inequities of pre-college access to computer experience; some (as other research has shown) reflect the gendered character of IT industry products that target children and young people. As a result, few of those female students who possess strong mathematical, linguistic, or logical thinking skills enter college with sufficient disciplinary knowledge and experience to entertain computer science as a major. They may also have limited information about the range of careers open to CS graduates.

As the study also documents, women who do enter CS majors (approximately 15% of this student population) are apt to be discouraged by the misogyny of the peer culture (which varies from, but is related to, that documented in other science majors). They are often strongly distanced from the geek persona that they (wrongly) perceive to be a requirement for success. The emergence of CS as a discipline that defines itself in conceptual, theoretical, and technical terms, and somewhat avoids functional application or customer-programmer negotiation, also reduces the appeal of the major to those women who are primarily interested in what they can do with computers. This group looks elsewhere (e.g., cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction institutes) in order to pursue their interest in computing with a more human focus.

As Margolis and Fishers' evidence also shows, elements in the traditional socialization of girls leave US women students at greater risk--either than their male peers or than international women students--of quitting CS classes, or the major, despite adequate or good academic performances. Experiencing insufficient personal encouragement from faculty and active discouragement from some male peers, perfectly competent women begin to doubt that they belong in the major, lose confidence, and leave. Foreign women were found to be less deterred either by these elements in the CS culture, or by their low entering levels of CS experience.

The authors discuss the relative importance of these causal factors and describe the interventions developed at their study site (Carnegie Mellon University) to address each of them. They also discuss the serious global consequences of failure to address gender disparity in IT as a discipline and as an industry, namely, a constant bias in product
development that both misses and mistakes customer needs, and perpetuation of a cycle in which half of the world's talent is diverted from this central field of human endeavor.

If you want to make a difference in this field, first read this book.