Are stereotypes keeping women out of Computer Science?

(I think my Dad took fashion advice from this man.)

Three years ago as I was setting with my fellow future computer scientists during orientation week I realized something disheartening. As I was setting waiting for more people to arrive, one by one about twenty male students entered the room. One lone female walked in, but to my dismay she took a quick look around and promptly made her exit.

Today, after having lost a scholarship on the grounds that we were not doing enough to entice women to major in computer science, I wonder why women do not choose computer science.

As we all should know, the pristine credit of the world's first computer programmer goes to a woman by the name of Ada Lovelace. The work that brought her this title was in the notes of her translation of Luigi Menebrea's account of the Analytical Engine, where she wrote a computer program describing how to use it. How is it that as our society grew we went from the pioneer of computer science being a woman to struggling to get women interested in computer science? A common answer I have found is stereotypes.

A common stereotype is that men have a technical brain, while women simply do not. Which theoretically leaves women behind in the technology and mathematics fields. The question of why women do not choose computer science is a common topic for applications. That question prompted one student to survey her classmates to find out why. Common generalizations she found include, women enjoy jobs where they interact with people and women have smaller brains.

The real answer may lie with an idea called stereotype threat. This occurs when a person knows that a stereotype is present and by doing or failing to do a certain thing they could be judged based on this stereotype. A study performed on female students taking a math exam showed that those who were asked their gender before the exam performed worse than those who were asked their gender after the exam.

Another study was performed on female students on their interest in computer science. One group of students was surveyed in a room that was decorated with star trek posters, soda cans, and sci-fy books. The other group was surveyed in a room that was decorated in a neutral fashion, with nature posters on the wall. The students that were surveyed in the nature room were more likely to indicate that they were interested in computer science classes.

Knowing that these stereotypes exist and that we may be judged by them can take a huge toll on a persons self-confidence. This causes them to over-think what they are saying and may lead to them feeling so out of place and discriminated against that they leave all-together. The absence of women in computer science makes women feel like they cannot fit in and they cannot succeed so they instead turn to a career where they feel more accepted.

Coming into college as one of the few female computer science students in my class I felt that I did not fit in, and I still feel like maybe I would be more suited to a major where the atmosphere is more geared towards women. I have found through experience though that my rate of success is on par or higher than my male classmates, leaving me to believe that the only hindrance for women in computer science is that of stereotype threat and not intellectual ability.