Where are all the women?Jessica Howe

“There is a prevailing opinion among many men that academics is an entirely cerebral endeavor in which the social roles of men and women have no influence. This

clearly is not the case.”

Where are all the women?

In Biology, Chemistry

In Medicine, Law, Media, Business

Colhoon Abelson

Not in Computer Science

The numbersgrad faculty

EECS 17.5% (140/800) 5.6% (7/125)CS 18.5% (44/240) 9.1% (4/44)AI 24.1% (21/87) 5.9% (1/17)

AI Web page (1998)

LCS: Faculty 12.2% Researchers 29.7% Graduate 16.4% Undergraduate 19.1%

LLCSW (2002)

The numbers

EECS CS 19.5% EE 20.3% EECS Graduate 19.9%

Dept. Statistics (2003)

This year: ~25% of admitted graduate students

Faculty now at 9 women

Why don’t women choose CS?

Discouraged at an early age

Lack of role models

Overly-intense atmosphere, competitive

Socially solitary work

The “nerd” factor

Other science disciplines are more fitting, welcoming

CS is more suited to men than women?

It’s too hard?

Okay, so there’s not many in CS, but so what?

Why is this a problem at all?

Possible Scenarios: Advertising firms, all Canadian Authors & news publishers, all frat boys Basketball teams, all upper-class rich Computer Scientists, all women

Diverse atmosphere leads to diverse thinking

Strive towards diversity in gender, race, economic backgrounds, etc

President, National Academy of Engineering“Without diversity, we limit the set of life experiences

that are applied, and as a result, we pay in opportunity cost - a cost in products not built, in designs not considered, in constraints not understood, and in processes not invented.”

What does a diverse atmosphere look like?

Comfort with asking questions: independence expected, don’t want to “stand out” as ignorant

To be a healthy environment for all, you must feel welcome: not exposed or vulnerable

To be near people like you

Comfortable => productive

Fear: Changing the atmosphere = “dumbing it down”

No, but lowering admissions standards might - Don’t get these confused!

Atmosphere changes: increase peer support

Many brilliant women are not here because they find more welcoming places elsewhere

Example: Vision ~1/3 women Systems, um, ~low

Why do I have to help?

Responsibility: community vs. individual

Progress doesn’t happen on its own

We have the ability to change the numbers

It is up to us to do so

You want students and classmates, right? Falling numbers of undergrads Uneven attrition rates

More grads more professors more role models more undergrads more grads ….

What do we do?

Spertus, Abelson, study on women in School of Science, Margolis, Cohoon, CRW

Broaden discipline stereotypesRecruit womenRetain women through mentoring and encouragement

Is it just us?Through 90’s, 16% CS PhD in US

Why don’t more women just come here?

That would solve a lot of problems

That’s just like saying “get out of poverty”

Social channeling into gender-appropriate careers

They just need to do the same thing men do?

They just need to work harder?

The problem goes back deeper than that

But it started earlier than at the graduate level

Mit undergrads ~50% women EECS is still < 20% women

Nationwide 25% undergrad in EECS

But it started even earlier than that

So the only way to fix it is to tutor 6 year olds?

No.

We can influence our surroundings.

But it won’t make a difference if it really starts that young?

We (of both sexes) serve as role models

We directly influence undergrads

As members of a respected academic institution we influence other academic groups

We can recruit and retain at the graduate level

Impact of a woman president?

Attracting women is being unfair to men?

Question: is it easier for women to be admitted? Are women being admitted with lower standards?

Attracting women is being unfair to men?

Question: is it easier for women to be admitted? Are women being admitted with lower standards?

Grimson: “No two standards for admission!”

Never had a quota

The idea of special treatment

Unequal evaluation = special treatmentMany men are against special treatment of any sortMany women tooMany methods are not special treatment but acts of convincing women to comeGoal: provide opportunities w/out undercutting standings in society

Why are (younger) women staying away from CS?

Positive vs. negative feedbackComputing viewed as a ‘male’ activityInterest in CS later in life => lack of experience when entering collegeLack of encouragement, supportSelf doubt, acting outside of gender stereotypesMany, many, many other reasons

Why are women staying away from our school, our labs?

High pace and pressure

Atmosphere

Reputation

Few choices of women to work with

Positive vs. negative feedback

Keep it going on

Aggressive recruiting of high school girls (result: 48% of admitted students female)

Prog.s in place at MIT (RSI, MITES, etc)

WTP

IAP 6.001 prep class

GW6

Polina’s web page

Things other folks have tried

CMU, Unlocking the ClubhouseDept. undergraduate statistics 1995: 7% 2000: 42%

How’d they do that? Broad outreach to HS teachers Broader admissions criteria Curriculum changes

Official suggestions: LCSW

Double the number of women faculty, staff, and UROPS in 5 years

Acknowledge and address women’s unequal child-care burden

Designate one or more faculty ombudspeople

Oversight meetings to review staff and students

Improve our mentoring system

Hold consciousness-raising events

Summary of questions

Should vs. How

Is the lack of women a problem?Why do _we_ need to do something about it?Why are women staying away?What do we do?We tried that once, so why will it work now?

There can always be two extremes, but progress comes from many in the middle

My take on a possibly feisty discussion: work together!

Sometimes it’s fun to play devil’s advocate, but less is accomplished

Constructive vs. destructive

And what did I say about this being an aggressive place?

BibliographyBarriers in Equality in Academia: Women in Computer Science at MIT; many authors, AI Lab Report, Feb. 1983.Barriers to Equality: The Power of Subtle Discrimination to Maintain Unequal Opportunity; Mary Rowe, MIT. web.mit.edu/ombud/ombuds_publications.mitMust There Be So Few? Including Women in CS; J. McGrath Cohoon, Intl. Conf. On Software Engineering, 2003, pp 668-674.Unlocking the Clubhouse; Margolis & Fisher, MIT Press, 2001 (I think that’s the year…)Women Undergraduate Enrollment in EE and CS at MIT; H. Abelson + committee, Jan. 1995. www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~hal/women-enrollment-comm/final-report.htmlBeing a Woman Student at MIT or How to Miss the Stumbling Blocks in Graduate Education; Candace L Sidner, AI Lab Report, June 1979.Why Are There So Few Women?; Ellen Spertus, AI Lab Tech Report, 1991.www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/Gender/pap/pap.htmlDigits of Pi: Barriers and Enablers for Women in Engineering; 2000.www.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/dept/aeroastro/www/people/widnall/Digits_of_Pi.htmlweb.mit.edu/admissions/www/undergrad/freshman/faq/summer.htmlweb.mit.edu/fnl/ women/women.htmlwww.ai.mit.edu/academics/student-life/women.shtmlwww-tech.mit.edu/V123/N3/timeline.3f.htmlweb.mit.edu/gep/Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Researchwww.cra.org/Activities/craw/LCSW Summary Recommendations [DRAFT] - LCS Report soon to come out.Departmental Statistics c/o Marilyn Pierce