Communications of the ACM
MIT Computer Scientists Demonstrate the Hard Way That Gender Still Matters
Credit: Dr. Karin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) computer science Ph.D. students Elena Glassman, Neha Narula, and Jean Yang unexpectedly found themselves demonstrating some of the challenges women face in computer science when they took to Reddit earlier this month to conduct an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. The three MIT students wanted to field questions about attending MIT, programming, and their various projects, but also wanted to highlight their experiences as women in the field. They were immediately and repeatedly buffeted by questions about why their gender should matter and harassing comments asking about their bra size and proposing marriage.
One Reddit user astutely noted the AMA session had become "a parody of what it's actually like to be a woman working in a [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] field." However, the AMA also generated many useful responses. Several users called out the harassers and discussions about bias in computer science were able to take place.
Meanwhile, several women viewing the AMA took the opportunity to tell stories about their own experiences in the field and numerous men stepped forward to offer their support.
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