matthew
December 19th, 2005, 08:13 PM
Link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/12/18/in_computer_science_a_growing_gender_gap/
Beginning of article text:
In computer science, a growing gender gap
Women shunning a field once seen as welcoming
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | December 18, 2005
MEDFORD -- As a young high school teacher in 1982, Diane Souvaine leapt into graduate school for computer science having taken only one class in the subject.
Computers, she believed, offered an exhilarating way to apply her math skills to real-world problems. And because computer science was coming into its own in the feminist age, she also hoped it would be more welcoming to women than her undergraduate math department.
Today, Souvaine chairs the Tufts University computer science department, which has more female professors than male. But few younger women have followed in her generation's footsteps. Next spring, when 22 computer science graduates accept their Tufts diplomas, only four will be women.
Born in contemporary times, free of the male-dominated legacy common to other sciences and engineering, computer science could have become a model for gender equality. In the early 1980s, it had one of the highest proportions of female undergraduates in science and engineering. And yet with remarkable speed, it has become one of the least gender-balanced fields in American society.
In a year of heated debate about why there aren't more women in science, the conversation has focused largely on discrimination, the conflicts between the time demands of the scientific career track and family life, and what Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers famously dubbed ''intrinsic aptitude."
My comments:
This is a prime example of why I fully support the idea of Ubuntu Women and am glad for its existence. The women I know are just a capable and intelligent as the men I know (and often more so) and they also tend to have insights that are different from the average man that are useful, interesting, and just plain beneficial. Anything that helps 51% of the world's population feel more welcome to participate in this community I consider welcome.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/12/18/in_computer_science_a_growing_gender_gap/
Beginning of article text:
In computer science, a growing gender gap
Women shunning a field once seen as welcoming
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff | December 18, 2005
MEDFORD -- As a young high school teacher in 1982, Diane Souvaine leapt into graduate school for computer science having taken only one class in the subject.
Computers, she believed, offered an exhilarating way to apply her math skills to real-world problems. And because computer science was coming into its own in the feminist age, she also hoped it would be more welcoming to women than her undergraduate math department.
Today, Souvaine chairs the Tufts University computer science department, which has more female professors than male. But few younger women have followed in her generation's footsteps. Next spring, when 22 computer science graduates accept their Tufts diplomas, only four will be women.
Born in contemporary times, free of the male-dominated legacy common to other sciences and engineering, computer science could have become a model for gender equality. In the early 1980s, it had one of the highest proportions of female undergraduates in science and engineering. And yet with remarkable speed, it has become one of the least gender-balanced fields in American society.
In a year of heated debate about why there aren't more women in science, the conversation has focused largely on discrimination, the conflicts between the time demands of the scientific career track and family life, and what Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers famously dubbed ''intrinsic aptitude."
My comments:
This is a prime example of why I fully support the idea of Ubuntu Women and am glad for its existence. The women I know are just a capable and intelligent as the men I know (and often more so) and they also tend to have insights that are different from the average man that are useful, interesting, and just plain beneficial. Anything that helps 51% of the world's population feel more welcome to participate in this community I consider welcome.