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There are smaller gaps between the sexes for high-paying jobs in general. See law and medicine. I started at top ten CS program almost 25 years ago, and there

There are smaller gaps between the sexes for high-paying jobs in general. See law and medicine. I started at top ten CS program almost 25 years ago, and there were only a handful of women there at all. Today's grads weren't born much later, so when tech jobs began to pay better and became high-status, it's not a big surprise that everyone else flocked to them. I'm not discounting the advantages women get in the hiring process, which plays its own part, but I think it's a lesser factor in all of this.

giantg2 3y ago
About 15 years ago at a state school, it was still like 10-15 males to 1 female in my CS classes. My masters classes at a bigger school about 7 years ago were more evenly split. I'm not sure if there was a massive increase during that time. In my experience it seems like there was a slight increase in undergrad but that a much higher percentage of females went on to a masters program than did males.
nradov 3y ago
Harvey Mudd College has a top undergrad CS program with gender parity. It's a small school so unclear whether they have expanded the pool, or are just better at recruiting women than other schools. https://www.hmc.edu/about/2018/05/15/harvey-mudd-graduates-highest-ever-percentage-of-women-physics-and-computer-science-majors/ https://www.hmc.edu/about/2018/05/15/harvey-mudd-graduates-h... The gender ratio was actually more even in the early days of computing. One hypothesis is that it became skewed largely because in the 1980s the consumer electronics industry marketed video games and home computers almost exclusively to boys. I don't know whether that entirely accounts for the change but it could have been a factor. https://qz.com/911737/silicon-valleys-gender-gap-is-the-result-of-computer-game-marketing-20-years-ago https://qz.com/911737/silicon-valleys-gender-gap-is-the-resu...
- vundercind 3y ago
  1980s is when "programmer" and "analyst" became a combined role instead of two distinct ones, as well, IIRC.

giantg2 3y ago

About 15 years ago at a state school, it was still like 10-15 males to 1 female in my CS classes. My masters classes at a bigger school about 7 years ago were more evenly split. I'm not sure if there was a massive increase during that time. In my experience it seems like there was a slight increase in undergrad but that a much higher percentage of females went on to a masters program than did males.

nradov 3y ago

Harvey Mudd College has a top undergrad CS program with gender parity. It's a small school so unclear whether they have expanded the pool, or are just better at recruiting women than other schools. https://www.hmc.edu/about/2018/05/15/harvey-mudd-graduates-highest-ever-percentage-of-women-physics-and-computer-science-majors/ https://www.hmc.edu/about/2018/05/15/harvey-mudd-graduates-h... The gender ratio was actually more even in the early days of computing. One hypothesis is that it became skewed largely because in the 1980s the consumer electronics industry marketed video games and home computers almost exclusively to boys. I don't know whether that entirely accounts for the change but it could have been a factor. https://qz.com/911737/silicon-valleys-gender-gap-is-the-result-of-computer-game-marketing-20-years-ago https://qz.com/911737/silicon-valleys-gender-gap-is-the-resu...

vundercind 3y ago
1980s is when "programmer" and "analyst" became a combined role instead of two distinct ones, as well, IIRC.