Communications of the ACM
'Geek' Perception of Computer Science Putting Off Girls, Expert Warns
The 'toys for the boys' perception of computer science has never been broken.
Credit: NYU Child Study Center
University of Southampton professor Dame Wendy Hall warns that girls still think of computer science as a subject for geeks and that this has proved to be a very difficult cultural obstacle to overcome. Hall says that instead of showing students how computers work, secondary school classes teach students how to use computers to produce documents, which has discouraged girls from choosing computer science as a career field.
In 2004, women made up about 19 percent of all students pursuing undergraduate computer science degrees in the United Kingdom, but that number fell to 16 percent in 2009, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency. "Women and girls use technology as much if not more than boys and men do and it's important that women are part of creating the future of this industry," Hall says.
Although the scientific community has made several attempts to encourage girls to take up science, there are fewer initiatives that focus solely on computer science, according to UKRC, an organization that works to address the under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.
From The Guardian
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