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Articles like this give the impression that any woman who wanted enter Computer Science during these years would have been not taken seriously and pushed out o

Articles like this give the impression that any woman who wanted enter Computer Science during these years would have been not taken seriously and pushed out of the field. I’ll never be able to fully appreciate the difficulty any did face during that time, and to the degree I was ignorant due to a position of privilege I regret my lack of greater initiative. Entering my CS program I recall (and lamented) the lack of representation even in 100-200 level courses. Women were not choosing this field in great numbers, but what part of nature, nurture and societal influence resulted in this? Clearly, the issues start before formal education. Now, with my own daughter ready to start the same major in less than a year’s time, I’m still contemplating the same issues with more than a passive interest.

eszed 3y ago
This dynamic is ironic because the very first generation of programmers was very gender-integrated - albeit for sexist reasons: the population drew from "computers", who were largely women. My mother-in-law had a career as a Fortran and COBOL developer and then instructor in the sixties and seventies (which she doesn't think is nearly as cool as I do). At some point it switched (my guess is when the profession became more highly-remunerated). I'd like it to switch back, more quickly.
- withinboredom 3y ago
  Based on living in the 80s and pop culture at the time, I have a suspicion: "nerds" weren't cool at all. To do anything with a computer or electronics was seen as the most "non-cool" thing you could do. At the time, women seemed to have all the social control and never did anything (or very rarely, at least) "non-cool." Thus, I suspect any women interested in the field were pushed away from it by their peers, and women's peer pressure is (traditionally) stronger than men's peer pressure (see Mean Girls for reference). Anyway, that's my own two cents colored by a childhood.
jillesvangurp 3y ago
Women have been part of the field of computer science since the very beginning. Ada Lovelace has a language named after her and arguably was the first programmer. She programmed the at that point theoretical machine created by Charles Babbage. The pattern of female programmers continues when computers really became practical. During WW II, Bletchley park was famously staffed by female computers. And the Eniac had several female mathematicians working on it. A female mathematician named Margaret Hamilton became a programmer at Nasa and ended up heading the team that built the on board flight software for the Appollo program. She also later coined the term software engineering. It's true that not a lot of woman pursue careers in math, science, etc. That's true today even when there are fewer obstacles than ever for them to do so and a lot of companies, universities, etc. are under pressure to have diversity in their staff and leadership.
graemep 3y ago
I agree entirely very much that it starts very early. It is how children's interests are formed. My older daughter is an electrical engineer, a field in which there are few women. When she was doing A levels (UK exams sat at 18, typically 3 subjects, supposedly APs are the nearest US equivalent, some other countries have similar) she was the only girl doing electronics, but there were a reasonably number doing physics and maths. This was despite the college (meaning British 16 to 18 type) making considerable efforts to encourage girls - but it was far to late. Girls are doing the S and the M of STEM but not the T and the E. I think that has a lot to do with how kids are brought up (e.g. boys helping dad when he is fixing things things but not girls - and it is still usually dad who is fixing things!) I think what interested my daughter was doing a lot of things I found interesting because she spent a lot of time with me - she was home ed for some formative years (which i also think helped prevent her picking up some stereotype of what women should do), and I worked from home when she was about an year old. My younger daughter may or may not go into an engineering or tech career, but it is definitely an option that is interesting.

eszed 3y ago

This dynamic is ironic because the very first generation of programmers was very gender-integrated - albeit for sexist reasons: the population drew from "computers", who were largely women. My mother-in-law had a career as a Fortran and COBOL developer and then instructor in the sixties and seventies (which she doesn't think is nearly as cool as I do). At some point it switched (my guess is when the profession became more highly-remunerated). I'd like it to switch back, more quickly.

withinboredom 3y ago
Based on living in the 80s and pop culture at the time, I have a suspicion: "nerds" weren't cool at all. To do anything with a computer or electronics was seen as the most "non-cool" thing you could do. At the time, women seemed to have all the social control and never did anything (or very rarely, at least) "non-cool." Thus, I suspect any women interested in the field were pushed away from it by their peers, and women's peer pressure is (traditionally) stronger than men's peer pressure (see Mean Girls for reference). Anyway, that's my own two cents colored by a childhood.

jillesvangurp 3y ago

Women have been part of the field of computer science since the very beginning. Ada Lovelace has a language named after her and arguably was the first programmer. She programmed the at that point theoretical machine created by Charles Babbage. The pattern of female programmers continues when computers really became practical. During WW II, Bletchley park was famously staffed by female computers. And the Eniac had several female mathematicians working on it. A female mathematician named Margaret Hamilton became a programmer at Nasa and ended up heading the team that built the on board flight software for the Appollo program. She also later coined the term software engineering. It's true that not a lot of woman pursue careers in math, science, etc. That's true today even when there are fewer obstacles than ever for them to do so and a lot of companies, universities, etc. are under pressure to have diversity in their staff and leadership.

graemep 3y ago

I agree entirely very much that it starts very early. It is how children's interests are formed. My older daughter is an electrical engineer, a field in which there are few women. When she was doing A levels (UK exams sat at 18, typically 3 subjects, supposedly APs are the nearest US equivalent, some other countries have similar) she was the only girl doing electronics, but there were a reasonably number doing physics and maths. This was despite the college (meaning British 16 to 18 type) making considerable efforts to encourage girls - but it was far to late. Girls are doing the S and the M of STEM but not the T and the E. I think that has a lot to do with how kids are brought up (e.g. boys helping dad when he is fixing things things but not girls - and it is still usually dad who is fixing things!) I think what interested my daughter was doing a lot of things I found interesting because she spent a lot of time with me - she was home ed for some formative years (which i also think helped prevent her picking up some stereotype of what women should do), and I worked from home when she was about an year old. My younger daughter may or may not go into an engineering or tech career, but it is definitely an option that is interesting.