Executive Summary
There are several reasons why women do not competitively participate in computer and information science programs all over the world. Most societies encourage girls to have a negative attitude towards computers by denying them opportunities to handle “sophisticated machines” as boys do. In school, females are perceived to be weaker in science subjects and mathematics; hence, they are not sufficiently supported in studying them. In addition, many workplace environments perceive women as underachievers in computing, implying that they have to work harder if they have to earn equal pay as men or even secure the job.
The above predicaments depict why there is a need to formulate strategies that will ensure that women get equal employment opportunities as men and that they get rid of the mindset that computer courses are difficult and only appropriate for men.
This proposal highlights the strategies that will be taken by Twilight University to ensure that more women enroll in computer and information science programs. These include mentoring interviews for women, a holistic course curriculum, the provision of scholarship programs to attract more dedicated participation of women in computer courses, creating ample teaching environments, and highlighting the benefits of pursuing computer science to society.
The strategies, if implemented, will create confidence among women and instigate their enrolment in computer-related programs. Consequently, the enrolled students will be role models to society and will therefore attract more enrolments.
Introduction
Computer, information, and science-related programs are important courses that are offered in universities across the world. This is due to their relevance to the current state of technology and the need for the dissemination of information. In addition, the world has become a global village with information being shared all over the world and thus, fosters development and growth in all countries. As this development takes shape, there is a need to foster the involvement of people from all regions in the world irrespective of their gender, ethnic background or other relations.
Despite efforts to strike a balance in gender representation in various forms of occupation, it is worthy to note that there is a stark disparity in gender involvement in computer science and information-related activities (Plale & Menzel, 2005). In the United States, universities face a steady decline in the enrollment of female students in computer science related subjects. Very few female students take computer science as their major in the final year of study (Plale & Menzel, 2005). The seeds of such tendencies are planted when women fail to enroll in these programs, or very few do, meaning that eventually there are very few graduates or none at all in this field (Plale & Menzel, 2005).
According to Margolis and Fisher (2003), the enrolment of female students to pursue computer and information science courses begins at the early stage s when more boys than girls are encouraged to study advanced math and sciences. For instance, in the 1990s there was an equal number of boys and girls studying precalculus courses, statistics, probability, and trigonometry in the United States (Margolis & Fisher, 2003). Although both gender were performing almost equally in the courses, later years showed a disparity with boys having a higher tendency to major in the courses than girls (Margolis & Fisher, 2003). This has been attributed to the pointed that girls are less confident in math and science relative to boys as pointed out by many researchers quoted by Margolis and Fisher (2003) p.38.
While the point that girls are less confident in mathematics and science is amenable to discussion, the fact that boys are more boys than girls are exposed to computers cannot be gainsaid. Margolis and Fisher (2003) findings of a study in which it was noted that female students at Carnegie Mellon rarely refer to computers bought in their homes as “a computer bought for me.” Further, only 17 percent of women as compared to 40 percent of women reported having access to computers in their homes (Margolis & Fisher, 2003). Additionally study conducted at Midwestern high school revealed that all the boys who hung around the computer lab had computer in their homes while none of the girls had one (Margolis & Fisher, 2003). All these factors contribute to the low popularity of computer science among female students and affect their enrolment (Plale & Menzel, 2005).
This proposal is aimed at suggesting ways to augment the participation of women in computing and information science programs. This is possible by ensuring that female students enroll in these programs in large numbers at both local universities and community colleges. Twinlight University is local university that offers computer science programs but whose women representation in the programs is wanting.
Outlining the Problem
The tendency by women to shun computing and information science courses is convoluted and not attributable to one isolated factor. Previous investigations into the under representation of women in the computer field have shown different trends in both industrialized countries and in the developing or third world countries. In some cases, there has been a rising, then falling trend in the number of female computer science students while in others the situation has been a falling and falling trend. For instance, Briggle, Waelbers and Brey (2008) have shown that countries such as USA, Canada and Austria once had the number rising but then it begun to fall, whereas in countries such as Italy, Finland, Portugal, and Hungary, the number has been steadily declining. On the contrary, the number of female students in Malaysia, Poland, Bulgaria and Greece has steadily been on the increase, which makes it difficult to generalize the causes of underrepresentation of women in computer science (Briggle, Waelbers & Brey, 2008).
One of the causes of low women participation in this field is because most female students have negative attitudes towards computers (Kramarae & Spender, 2000). Perhaps this is inculcated at the tender stages of development where computer games are predominantly availed to boys while girls are considerably denied a chance to be in touch with “sophisticated” appliances such as computers (Briggle, Waelbers & Brey, 2008). Along this line, Kramarae and Spender (2000) blame the educational system for allowing boys more time with computers than is allowed for girls. In addition, the authors opine that there are no incentives to make science interesting, and that girls in most societies are not encouraged to pursue science courses. Moreover, the perceived difficulty of mathematics to women is a hurdle to their participation in “difficult” courses such as computer science (Kramarae & Spender, 2000).
Women have generally been perceived to be underachievers in computer-related activities jobs and are therefore not encouraged to pursue them (Kramarae & Spender, 2000). For instance, women in the computer science field in Germany find it difficult to obtain equal qualifications with men due to social differences (Briggle, Waelbers & Brey, 2008). In Spain, the presence of women in the labor market is low, the women are less qualified than men and therefore notably absent from the field of computer science (Kramarae & Spender, 2000). In Africa, women’s presence in computer science is almost invisible due to the low levels of education among women (Briggle, Waelbers & Brey, 2008). Even in the United States, it has been reported that women in the field of computer and information science have to work harder than men in order to get comparable pay (Kramarae & Spender, 2000, Plale & Menzel, 2005). As a result, there has been a declining number of women graduating with B Sc in computer-related courses. For instance, there was a significant decline in the number of female graduates of B Sc Computer & Information Sciences from 37.1 per cent to 26.7 per cent of the B Sc degrees awarded to female students between 1983-1984 and 1997-1998 (Gürer & Camp, undated).
Women have also been made to fear computer science programs by the negative pictures created of occupations related to these courses, such as computer programming. Kramarae and Spender (2000) posit that women are made to believe that such occupations require people with phenomenal capabilities and not the ordinary personalities. Lack of female role models in computing also hinders women’s participation since the field is dominated by male personalities such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (Shaikh, 2007).
The domination of men in the field of computer science can be attributed to the fact that most of the people who invent, create and develop designs for computing activities are men. In addition, although there is a severe deficit in the workforce involved in computer science, there is still a wide gap between male and female computer scientists due to low popularity of the occupation among women. Margolis and Fisher (2003) and Woodfield (2000) report that in the year 2000 there were 900, 000 unfilled jobs in the computer related fields, leading to cancellation of over 40 percent of the projects that had been initiated, and 35 percent of the projects that were completed had serious problems (Margolis and Fisher, 2003). That however seems not to have encouraged more women to enroll for computer science programs.
The domination of women in computer related courses is caused by many factors, among them the fact that some early voice recognition devices were by default designed to recognize male voices (Margolis and Fisher, 2003). Other systems such as conferencing devices had the camera automatically focused on the speaker, thus ignoring the female audience (Margolis and Fisher, 2003). These wrong product designs tend to have perpetuated the trend of male domination in computer related fields.
Why efforts should be made to increase women’s participation
It cannot be emphasized enough that there is need to increase women participation in computer science related subjects. To begin with, it is noteworthy that there should be more enrollments of female students in order to improve gender balance in the professions involved (Bouville, undated). Secondly, more participation of women in computer science means creation of more job opportunities for them that would in turn lead to their independence and active participation in building the economy. Most importantly, there is need to clear the popular mindset that computer-related jobs are difficult and therefore only suited for men. This will ensure that there is fair a distribution of workforce in all fields and discourage the tendency of women to crowd other occupations that are seemingly “meant for them.”
Strategies to be implemented by Twinlight University to increase women’s participation in computer science programs
As a university that adheres to the need to promote gender equity, Twinlight University will implement the following strategies in order to encourage more women to enroll for computer courses at the institution. All the strategies are meant to ensure that not only do more female students enroll for computer courses but that they complete them with the prescribed prerequisite skills.
- Use of female mentoring interviews
Weiner et al (2003) have argued that the reason why women fail to be interested in science courses and particularly computing is that they are not motivated enough to want to do so. In most cases, learning institutions and particularly universities fail to address the challenges that arise in computing and information science (Weiner et al, 2003). Twinlight University will therefore address this issue by ensuring that female students are introduced to orientation programs that will allow them to discuss their problems with qualified career masters. The recommendations suggested by the female students will be greatly considered if they will be deemed to encourage more female students to enroll in computing. The interviews will also be used as a platform to encourage female students on the future career options in computing and information science.
- Restructuring computer science/information science the curriculum to provide a holistic view of the field
Perhaps the rigidity of the computer science curriculum makes female students to shy away from it. As Shaikh (2007) notes, most computer science curricular tend to look too complex and requiring complex input. At Twinlight University, this will be eliminated by incorporating a holistic approach that will involve a detailed description of other features of the course such as the importance of the course and the opportunities that are associated with the course across the gender divide. In addition, the course curriculum will also be designed such that it eliminates the perceived complexities of computer science by encouraging
- Provision of scholarship programs to top-performing female students in computer science related subjects.
In order to make computing and information science more appealing to female students, Twinlight University will offer partial and full scholarships to students who show interest in the course by performing exceptionally well. Female students will have the option of selecting particular fields in computer science and ensure that they lobby for more female entrants in the course. The students will be awarded for each student that they encourage to enroll in the course, such that the enrolments will not be particularly in pursuit if the scholarship but out of passion and encouragement. Provision of learning incentives to students has been shown to be one way of encouraging learning of science among female students (Leebaert, 1992). The scholarships can be used to support female students in all programs including continuing learning programs, distance learning and so on (Leebaert, 1992). These incentives will definitely sound attractive to other female students to join computing.
- Creation of a learning environment where students are treated equally
Twinlight University will create an environment in which learners are treated equally irrespective of gender. Hence, it will apply principles as those mentioned by Selby (1997), where women are encouraged to sell computers, be software developers, and IT managers. This break from the ordinary environment where men only are mentioned will not only encourage female students to like computing but also be role models for others.
The university will encourage the use of devices that are suited for both men and women in order to eliminate the gender disparity in use of devices such as voice recognition systems. The use of devices such as projectors and large displays will particularly be encouraged among women in order to eliminate constant fears of women in handling machines.
- Making computer science to have a positive impact on the society
It is common knowledge that women like participating in activities that directly promote the society (Selby, 1997) and therefore avoid those that seem to have no impact, which are liked by men. Since computer science is one of such programs, there is need to promote the bright side associated with it such as a form of employment, an opportunity to serve people the world over and so on. Women appreciate what they do when it touches the society in a positive way (Selby, 1997). The knowledge gained at Twinlight University will be used in activities such as development of websites, internet marketing, financial analysis, and in factories for a multiplicity of applications among other commercial places. The knowledge is also important for networking in hospitals, schools and organizations. These are just but some of the ways in which a female computing and information science student will be able to reach and serve the society.
Conclusion
There is need to identify and understand the issues that bar women from participating in computer and information science programs. It is obvious that most women have negative attitudes towards computing right from the time when they are young girls. This is coupled with the perceived difficulty of science subjects in school and lack of encouragement or role models to boost girls’ interest in computing. Most societies in the world perceive women as underachievers in computer science; hence, women have to work harder to gain popularity as men.
Given the problems facing women, well-formulated programs for computing courses will ensure that progress is made in changing attitudes in order to increase enrolment of women. Mentoring interviews will ensure that women become confident and are able to pursue computer and information science just as their male colleagues do. This should be complemented with a curriculum that takes a holistic approach to computer science. Scholarship programs at Twinlight University will be used to encourage female students both in school an in other fields to enroll for the computer and information science program and ensure that they pursue it to successful completion. In the view of equal treatment of students, the program will delve into the achievements that have been made by women in computing in order to attract the involvement of female students. This will be accomplished by ensuring that the positive impacts of computer and information science programs on the society are emphasized. Overall, the strategies will ensure that women gain confidence to pursue computer-related courses while ensuring that they also act as role models for the rest of the society.
References
- Bouville, M. (undated). Should there be more women in science and engineering? Web.
- Briggle, A. Waelbers, K, &. Brey, P. A. E. (2008). Current issues in computing and philosophy New York: IOS Press
- Gürer, D. & Camp, T. (undated) Investigating the Incredible Shrinking Pipeline for Women in Computer Science: Final Report – NSF Project 9812016.
- Kramarae, C. & Spender, D. (2000) Routledge international encyclopedia of women: global women’s issues and knowledge. London: Routledge
- Leebaert, D. (1992). Technology 2001: The future of computing and communications. New York: MIT Press
- Margolis, J & Fisher, A. (2003). Unlocking the clubhouse: Women in computing. MIT Press: New York
- Plale, B. & Menzel, S. (2005). The under-representation of women in IU computer science undergraduate degree program Web.
- Selby, L. (1997). Increasing the participation of women in tertiary level computing courses: What works and why. Auckland: UNITEC Institute of Technology
- Shaikh, S.A. (2007). Participation of Female Students in Computer Science Education Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Issue 3
- Weiner, I.B.; Freedheim, D. K.; Schinka, J. A. & Velicer, W. F. (2003) Handbook of psychology. London: John Wiley and Sons
- Woodfield, R. (2000). Women, work and computing. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge