Check out our post by amazing journalist/guest-blogger Matt Nussbaum below!
"Women are under-represented across STEM fields, but the problem
is particularly acute in the field of computer science. You can see the
starkness of the gap in the statistics (e.g., while women receive more than 50
percent of total college degrees, they receive just 18 percent of computer
science degrees), or in a cursory glance at your favorite web companies:
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo!, Snapchat -- all founded by men and dominated
by men today.
At Google, women make up only 30 percent of the workforce –
and only 17 percent of the tech workforce. At Yahoo!, women represent 15
percent of the tech workforce, and 10 percent at Twitter. This while women
account for 47 percent of the total U.S. workforce.
Recent work on the issue indicates that the seeds of
male-dominance were planted decades ago with the emergence of personal
computers. Computers and one of their primary early uses - gaming -- were
marketed almost exclusively to men and boys (you can read/hear more about this here).
The trickle down effect is easy to see. Society came to view computers as a
"boy thing." So, like toy trucks or plastic guns, personal computers
were given to boys much more than to girls. Soon enough, a pop culture
stereotype emerged of what a “computer geek” was –
and it was a white male. Movies and TV shows reinforced – and, to some
extent, still reinforce –
the stereotype. When young girls were steered away from computers, they missed
out on years learning. It’s no wonder then that, finding
themselves surrounded in so-called introductory classes by male peers who had
been coding since middle school, many decided to pursue other interests.
Understanding this story is important. For every male-founded
Google, Facebook and Twitter, consider the great innovations that were delayed
(or missed entirely) because girls were steered away from computer science. When
academic fields are seen as the forte of just men, it doesn't just hurt women
-- it hurts all of us. You certainly wouldn't go into a fight with one hand
tied behind your back. Why would we, as a society, pursue the great innovations
of tomorrow with only half of the population encouraged to participate?
The gender gap in STEM cannot be traced to any single cause, but
facile narratives that label certain fields or interests as specifically male
are certainly part of the problem. It's part of the reason why companies like LabCandy work to make sure girls know science is for everyone."
