Communications of the ACM
C'mon Girls, Let's Program a Better Tech Industry
A University of Melbourne professor says it is important for women and girls to push back against three major misconceptions of the information and communication technology field.
Credit: lockerdome.com
University of Melbourne professor Karin Verspoor writes that females' perception of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector is a key reason why many women and girls do not enter the field.
She cites numbers from major Internet companies showing that even with women only accounting for a third of the general workforce, the figure is often even lower for technical jobs. Google said in May that women accounted for only 17 percent of its technical workforce.
Verspoor says many initiatives to attract women and girls to technology fall into the trap of doing so in explicitly gendered ways. For example, Google's Made with Code initiative was criticized for starting by having users design jewelry.
Verspoor says it is important to push back against three major misconceptions of the ICT field. The first misconception is that that they require deep mathematical skills, while the second is that they need rigid and logical thinking that closes off creativity. The third and final myth in need of dispelling is that the ICT field is the exclusive domain of the antisocial and awkward.
To help conquer these stereotypes, Verspoor recommends engaging girls in ICT early on, offering them opportunities to experience ICT's creative aspects, and spotlighting role models and diverse career paths.
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