kevles@hsi.UUCP (11/09/83)
Here are the survey results you've been waiting for, in the form in the form of an article that may already be in the LA TIMES. You will notice that the net has been altered to suit the average newpaper reader, but the survey responses have not. Our gracious thanks to all of you who responded. And now, reproduced WITH permission, "Computer Jills and Jacks" The young woman rushed past her 'in' box towards the computer comsole. With astonishing dexterity, she typed in a series of letters and numbers. Within seconds a few paragraphs appeared on the screen. "I'm checking my mail, she explained. The young woman designs programs for a small computer software firm, a good job, especially for a fresh BA in history whose senior paper described 18th century medical mistakes. She discovered the world of computer science sometime in her junior year. Since then she has been on an extended honeymoon in the world of artificial languages. A social creature, she has logged onto a "bulletin board" to unknown correspondents at terminals in universities and businesses all over the United States. The only female programmer in her firm, she is sometimes lonely for female colleagues. Is here position typical? I wondered. Why do men dominate this still new kind of work, or looking at it the other way around, what is keeping other women out? We decided to find out through her network. What follows is a small and in no way rigorous survey of the computer workplace, as garnered from the twenty-fve people who replied during the three weeks tha her questionaire was "posted." All but three were women, the youngest 21, the oldest 32. Computer science is new and the youth of its experts, probably more than anything else, distinguished it from other fields. What is the ratio of women to men in the work force? Those who replied from the business world estimated about 1 in 10. But those in academic positions found the ratio much better, some as good as 1 in 3. One woman pointed out that the situation was changing rapidly, and more and more women are appearing at conferences now to deliver papers. The women gave two reasons for entering the field, the same two reasons. The money is good, and they like being paid for enjoying their work. All describe solving computer problems s "elegant", "satisfying", and often just plain "fun." In our network poll, we asked whether women were more involved with "software," (designing programs) than with "hardware," (constructing machined) or manageing projects rather than doing detail work. The responses were dramatically mixed. Most reported that they had never been discriminated against, while a few complained about being held back. But one attitude seemed pervasive. "In my group," one woman reported, "men are given the design work; women clean up code and test algorithms. This will change soon or I will be off to find a new job!" Many women felt cheated by bad mathametics education and mentioned lack of women as role models when they discovered that they liked math. Several had been directed away from computer science by school counsellors, and into peripheral fields like teaching mathematics, even after aptitude tests had pointed out their talents. These women eventually found their way into computer science, but pointed out that boys with the same test scores had been steered into engineering or computerscience and were now severa yeas ahead on the career ladder. As a group these women became interested in computers at a variety of ages. But those who came to them earliest had the advantage of a parent working as an engineer, or the luck to attend a special school. Several teachers recounted their own experiences of women studets dropping out of math and computer science classes when the work got tough. Yet one man pointed out tha education studies have shown tha women learn to juggle (he meant the physical skill, not the metaphorical skill) more easily than men because they are less likely to give up at the first sign of difficulty. And juggling, he wrote, is a good model for learning - you learn in small stages, make progress in spurts, and learn only by perseverance. "AHA!" came the bulletin board reply. "The difference is that (as far as I know), women arent socailized to believe they're no good at juggling." Female computer scientists have learned to juggle numbers in spite of an educational system which did not encourage them. They are very different from their male counterparts, not mirror images at all. With a single exception - a woman who confessed to feeling ill at ease with people and preferring machines any day - these women pointed out that they are not "nerds" or "hackers." They like their work, but they leave their computers at night to go home to families, to write poetry or dance. The familiar pattern of adolescent male computer fixation is missing. These women do not play Dungeons and Dragons (a game connected with computer obsession in the adolescent community), nor do they drop quarters into video machines. A half dozen simply noted: "When I want to play a game, I design one." They all assumed that their career opportunities were equal to those of men. Like the woman who will quit if her company doesn't mend its ways, they feel secure that opportunity abounds for them. Computer science is already commonlace in our technological society. Unlike the older mathematically oriented professions, it does not have a long history of excluding women, perhaps because it does not have a long history. As a field, it burgeoned contemporaneously with the women's movement. Free from the burden of a sexist past, computer science may well be unisex within a few decades. More and more girls are discovering healthy female role models, finding that math is fun and solving problems as satisfying as satisfying as learning how to juggle. * * * * End of article. Comments are always welcome, but not as uucp mail this time. Any mail should be sent directly to the author, whose address follows. And thanks again for all your letters and articles. --Beth Kevles author: Bettyann Kevles 575 La Loma Rd. Pasadena, CA 91105