Worldwide, there is a significant discrepancy between the numbers of male and female graduates from computer science programs. SUNY Geneseo offers no exception. The literature cites a number of plausible explanations for the problem, but no definitive answers. We conducted a study to determine why few women complete our own computer science major. Our major finding is that (at least on our campus) the problem is not actually one of retention. Few women--even those in the introductory computer science courses--actually plan to major in computer science to begin with. Although some barriers suggested in the literature do operate within the major, they seem much less significant than the low entry rates. Retention of women once they enter the major is important, but it is secondary to getting women into the major initially. This suggests that the most effective solutions will be those that concentrate not on retention but on recruitment (including outreach to secondary schools).   

Based on paper submitted to 1998 SigCSE Conference by:   
       

Greg Scragg & Jesse Smith   
SUNY Geneseo   
Dept. of Computer Science   
Geneseo, NY 14454, USA
        
scragg@cs.geneseo.edu      
jds97@cs.geneseo.edu

• U. S. Department of Education, under grant number P116B20753, 
• SUNY Geneseo Research Incentive Grant.

 

Nationally  ...  

and at Geneseo   
     roughly 2/3's of the college's students are women   

• roughly 1/2 of all students in introductory computer science courses are women, 
• but
• less than 1/4 of computer science degrees go to women.
 

including:      
1. General social pressures (e.g., attitudes of friends and family) discourage women from pursuing computer science.
2. Women face more crises of self confidence over their performance in computer science than men do.
3. Women don't have as much chance as men to contribute ideas in classes, and their contributions are under valued when they are made.
4. Women believe that computer science is too dominated by men.
5. Women believe math is an important part of computer science, yet suffer more than men from math anxiety.
6. Women feel more strongly than men do that they want to raise a family, but that a career in computer science is incompatible with this goal 

 

• Four out of 9 CS faculty are women.

• (female role models and mentors are available)

• The campus is located in a safe rural setting. 

• (should reduce concerns about safety working late in laboratories)

• Curriculum emphasizes mathematics and experimentation.

• We encourage group work and projects.

  

Two stages:       

1. focus groups, 
• identify specific barriers to women CS students at Geneseo.  
     
2. Directed questionnaire 
• study the most likely barriers more scientifically.
 

• 297 students

• 133 women and 

• 164 men

• Multiple questions testing each hypothesis. 

• Specific null and alternative hypotheses. 

 

• Background data for classification purposes. 

• Obviously women do not enroll in CS at the same rates as males 

• Assumed: 
within introductory computing classes,   
percentage majoring in CS would be about the same for women and men. 

• But actually CS majors represent:

• 22.6% of the male respondents
       
• 5% of female respondents. 

• Minor had statistically equal rates: 
men: 26.2%       
women: 24%
• The follow up survey supported the above results in all respects.   

 

Agree or disagree with the following statements?      
       

 "I would approve if a male friend said he was looking for a job in computing".      
Women's mean = 5.59 Combined mean = 5.67
 "I would approve if a female friend said she was looking for a job in computing".      
Women's mean = 5.78 Combined mean = 5.62
"My friends would approve if I chose a career in computing".      
Women's mean = 5.54 Men's mean = 5.38
"My parents would approve if I chose a career in computing".      
Women's mean = 5.67 Men's mean = 5.67

• None suggest strong social pressures against women entering the field. 

• No evidence of peer, parental, or personal perceptions that CS is inappropriate for women. 

• No statistically valid evidence to support either

• The follow up questionnaire supported these results. 

 

How strongly do respondents agree with:      

"I feel good about my performance in this course".      
Women's mean = 4.73 Men's mean = 4.85
"Overall, I do better in the my classes than most of my classmates".      
Women's mean = 4.22 Men's mean = 4.26
 "I do better in this class grade wise than most of my classmates".      
Women's mean = 3.90 Men's mean = 4.18
 "I am comfortable debating with my classmates in class discussions in every class in which such debates arise".      
Women's mean = 4.07 Men's mean = 4.53

•  Women indeed appear less comfortable in our class situations. 

"When the professor makes a mistake in class, I correct him/her".      
Women's mean = 2.91 Men's mean = 3.40
"When I know the answer to a question in class, I raise my hand to answer it".      
Women's mean = 3.57 Men's mean = 3.62

• First question, but not the second, we found a difference: 
• Second question: no evidence that women were less willing to speak up in class.

• Follow up similar 

• Follow up data for the question about comfort in class debates failed to find difference.

• Differences may be small:
(a) both men and women answered at the "confident" end       
(b) evidence not uniform across the questions (1 of  4 showed no evidence; follow up: 2 of 4 showed none).   
 

3 questions on contributions in the classroom.       
       

"Rate the relative value your classmates attach to men's and women's contributions in this class".      
Women's mean = 4.00
"Rate the relative value the professor attaches to men's and women's contributions in this class".      
Women's mean = 3.88
       
• Little evidence of this problem. 

 

"My professor gives me a fair chance to participate in class".      
Women's mean = 5.21 Men's mean = 5.35

• Follow up did find a difference for the second question.

• Likely that women have slight feeling that their contributions to class are undervalued by professors. 

• No evidence that women feel discrimination in opportunity to contribute to class, 

• Nor that they feel that their contributions less respected by fellow students.

  

Do women think computing is more male dominated than they would like:      
       

 "What is the distribution of men to women in computer related careers?"      
Women's mean = 3.16
 "In your ideal career, what would the distribution of men and women be?"      
Women's mean = 3.87

•  Women think computing is more male dominated than they would like.

•  But not so male dominated as we expected.

  

Do you  agree or disagree with the following statements:      
       

 "Mathematics plays a large role in computer science".      
Women's mean = 5.29 Combined mean = 5.28
 "I am comfortable solving mathematical problems".      
Women's mean = 5.00 Men's mean = 5.01

• Neither result suggests that math anxiety plays an important role. 

• Women alone, and men and women combined, recognize the importance of math to computer science. 

• Men and women agree that they are comfortable using math, with no statistically significant difference.

• No evidence that women leave our program because of math anxiety.

•  The follow up questionnaire produced similar results in all respects.

 

     
How strongly do you agree or disagree with:      
       

 "Computer scientists spend more time on work than on family".      
Women's mean = 3.89
 "Having time to raise my own family is a high priority for me".      
Women's mean = 5.68 Men's mean = 5.42

• Does not suggest any significant difference. 

• No statistically significant difference in their responses to the first question.

• No reason to believe that women leave our computer science program because they think a career in CS conflicts with family duties.

•  The follow up results were similar, 
• women do disagree slightly with the statement that CS requires more time than family .

 

Caveats      
       

• Population restricted to introductory CS courses at Geneseo. 
• These barriers may operate more strongly on 
• students who never take any computer science, 
• on younger or older students, 
• or on students in other schools. 
• We didn't test all barriers suggested in literature.
• Results should not be accepted without question.
• Need confirmation by broader based studies at other schools. 

• Of six barriers explored, only two:

 yielded significant differences.

•  Evidence was weak or mixed. 

• Far more significant were backgrounds of women entering introductory courses:
• women enter with far less computing experience than do men. 
• most women in our introductory courses never plan to major in computer science at all.

• Largest barriers may  occur long before entering our program:
• Systemic societal problems or
• early education process. 

• Women entering  our program, 
• have had less experience with computing and 
• do not intend to continue in the major.

•  One possible conclusion:

We should throw up our hands and say "it isn't our problem!"     
A complete solution is beyond the reach of college CS departments. 

• We prefer to think this suggests:

 The problem is:      
not one of retention but       
of recruitment or outreach.   
 

Even within the college environment, we can take some steps:      
       

• Outreach programs to school age girls (e.g., summer "camps") 
conducted by college computer science departments,       
seem to be quite effective in awakening girls' interest in computing

• Undergraduate colleges are crucial training grounds for elementary and secondary teachers; 
CS departments can work with schools of education to ensure that these teachers are suitable computer science role models for their students.

• Mentoring programs, 
draw on upper level women students, women graduates, or women faculty as mentors.