Blog Post 3

The discussion on the lack of women in the computer science field has become increasingly confusing as I read more about it. Sure, there are still major problems in the workplace that need to be fixed, and hopefully there will continue to be progress in that area. That, however, likely has little to do with why so few women to choose to get a computer science degree in the first place. The blame then moves to early education. Perhaps girls are (hopefully unconsciously) pushed away from math and science, and that's why they don't end up choosing a computer science major. That doesn't seem to be the full story; women are better represented in many of the other STEM degrees. I think computer science is unique in its increasing gender gap because there is generally no exposure to computer science in school. Computer science is unrelated to any of the sciences taught, and while the theory behind computer science is a math, its practical application has little to do with the math taught in school. Because there is so little primary school exposure to anything like computer science, it is uniquely susceptible to cultural stereotypes and impressions. Something in culture is pushing boys towards that initial exposure to computer science, and leaving girls out. Trying to influence that culture will be incredibly difficult, so I suspect the easiest way to increase the number of women studying computer science would be to add an introduction to computer science to the general curriculum. If everyone will be exposed to it regardless of that cultural bias, people can find out if they enjoy the field without having to factor in the stereotypes. This would not be a strange thing to add to education; understanding how computers work seems at least as generally relevant as calculus/optics/mechanics.