Introduction
Throughout history, women have been the minority in computer science. Despite being some of the first computer programmers, writing the first compilers, and setting the stage for later mathematicians as John von Neumann and Alan Turing, women make up only approximately one-third of computer scientists today. Many institutions are starting to implement programs aimed at steering more women towards the computing field; however, a large percentage of women who are already a part the field report feeling insecure and inferior to their male peers. At the undergraduate level, the attrition rate for female computer science students is growing, causing the numerical discrepencies between men and women in the classrooms to become apparent. Even in popular media, the message is being shown to women that they are not capable or welcome in the computing field. This paper will discuss some possible reasons for these trends, and the sorts of problems that attempting to bring more women into the field is creating.
The research for this report was done for my Computer Science Colloquium at Beloit College, during the Spring 1999 semester. I chose this topic for many reasons, including but not limited to the fact that the computer science department at Beloit College is largely male-dominated. As a student who has also felt insecure at times concerning my major, I felt that it would be a worthwhile project to study other womens' reactions to computing and how they have grown from their experiences. I found it interesting that the first computer programmers were women, and yet very little is taught in the classroom regarding this piece of history. Because of this, I also chose to include a large segment on the history of the ENIAC in order to give a concrete example of women whose influence made an enormous difference in the computer science field. This paper will give insight into the reactions, roles, and attitudes of women in computer science over the past fifty years, and illustrate some methods that are currently being used to alleviate the problems that they are facing.
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Computer World: The ENIAC