Women and information technology: Research on underrepresentation

✍ Scribed by Denise E. Agosto

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 196 KB
• Volume: 58
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1532-2882
• DOI: 10.1002/asi.20622

✦ Synopsis

Student participation in computer science (CS) has dropped significantly over the past few years in the United States. As the Computing Research Association (Vegso, 2006) recently noted, "After five years of decline, the number of new CS majors in fall 2005 was half of what it was in fall 2000 (15,958 vs. 7,952)." Many computing educators and working professionals worry that this reduced level of participation might result in slowed technological innovation in future years. Adding to the problem is especially low female participation in the computerrelated disciplines. For example, Cohoon (2003) showed that the percentage of high school girls indicating intent to study CS in college dropped steadily from 1991 to 2001, from a high of 37% to a low of 20%. The National Science Foundation's most recent report on Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering (National Science Foundation, 2004) indicates that while females obtained 57% of all bachelor's degrees in 2001, they obtained just 28% of computer-related undergraduate degrees. These low percentages of female participation are reflected in the computing workforce as well.

Women and Information Technology: Research on Underrepresentation provides an overview of research projects and research trends relating to gender and computing. The book takes a proactive general stance; the ultimate goal of publishing the research included in the volume is to lead to significant gains in female representation in the study and practice of the computing-related fields.

The volume is comprised of a brief introduction and 15 chapters relating to the persistent computing gender imbalance. Many of the chapter