Women in Science 2015: The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner

The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner

Ian Gent School of Computer Science, University of St Andrews

http://ian.gent

twitter: @turingfan

2015 Women in Science Festival#WomenSciFest

http://ian.gent


Ian Gent School of Computer Science, University of St Andrews

http://ian.gent

2015 Women in Science Festival#WomenSciFest

Honestly, that’s my URL, try it!

http://ian.gent

Thanks to...

The Women In Science Festival for inviting me …

Karen Petrie for the Petrie multiplier …

and one or two others who helped me with this talk …

Thanks to... Many people at St Andrews not least standup comedians like a sex researcher and Royal Society University Research Fellow, a historian at the University of Dundee, a professor, a reader, a software engineer and a postdoc from Edinburgh University, the former chair of BCS Women, the first female professor at St Andrews, a New York Times bestselling children's author, an antiques dealer in Wales, the Oxford University Student's Union LGBT officer, a high school teacher in Denmark, a postdoc at Liverpool, a freelance photographer, a beer researcher from Heriot Watt, , a rocket scientist from NASA, a swordfish cockpit swapping Mills & Boon author, a graduate of the first college in the USA to admit women, two pantomime performers from Fife and the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.



• Let me tell you a story.

“The computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage. One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary. But their marriage was strong and he forgave her.”


“One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary.”

• Let me ask you a question.

• Who forgot the anniversary?

• Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner?


“One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary.”

• Let me ask Google a question.

• Who forgot the anniversary?

• Was it the computer scientist or the cleaner?

C

Unmoderated image search for “Computer Scientist”

Unmoderated image search for “Cleaner”

Who forgot the anniversary?

“The computer scientist and the cleaner had a long and happy marriage. One of their few arguments was when she forgot their wedding anniversary. But their marriage was strong and he forgave her.”

• Look inside your brain

• Did you think the woman was the cleaner?

Tell me, was she the computer scientist or the cleaner?

• I’m not going to tell you ...

• ... it’s just a story

• What matters is this...

• If you’re a woman ...

• ... and you’ve heard “he” for computer scientist your whole life...

• ... do you think maybe that might make you think that Computer Science isn’t for you?

Allies

• We need male computer scientists to be “Allies”

• Men who think it’s important that both women and men are treated right in Computer Science

• http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Allies

• I hope I am one

• I am trying to lose at Ally Bingo

http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Allies

Image: Concerned Feminists, 2014


I want to lose at Ally Bingo!


But will fill in this square…

Gender Balance

The most important problem for computing

Gender Balance

The most important problem for computing

Aside: not the most important problem in computing, which is probably “P=NP?” or maybe “How do you

write software that works”

Why the most important problem for CS?

Why should we have more women in CS?

Many people have given bad reasons…

I only know of two good reasons, but they are overpoweringly good.

• It’s right

• Computer Science would be better

It’s Right• If a woman doesn’t want to do CS, that’s fine

• But ...

• CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline

• If a woman is put off CS they are potentially missing out

• That is NOT fine

• Everybody in CS is responsible for making sure this doesn’t happen

Computer Science Would Be Better

• “Computing's too important to be left to men”

Karen Spärck Jones, 1935-2007

• Karen did a bit more than a cute quote

• She invented a key technique for internet search ...

• ... 20 years before the World Wide Web

• Don’t throw away half the world’s talents!Karen Spärck Jones, image Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Sp%25C3%25A4rck_Jones

But is it a problem now?• YES!

• Even Scientists judge men higher than women ... for no reason!

• Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students

• Proceedings National Academy of Science, USA, 2012

• http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/14/1211286109

bias because they have been rigorously trained to be objective.On the other hand, research demonstrates that people who valuetheir objectivity and fairness are paradoxically particularly likelyto fall prey to biases, in part because they are not on guardagainst subtle bias (24, 25). Thus, by investigating whether sci-ence faculty exhibit a bias that could contribute to the genderdisparity within the fields of science, technology, engineering,and mathematics (in which objectivity is emphasized), the cur-rent study addressed critical theoretical and practical gaps in thatit provided an experimental test of faculty discrimination againstfemale students within academic science.A number of lines of research suggest that such discrimination

is likely. Science is robustly male gender-typed (26, 27), resour-ces are inequitably distributed among men and women in manyacademic science settings (28), some undergraduate womenperceive unequal treatment of the genders within science fields(29), and nonexperimental evidence suggests that gender bias ispresent in other fields (19). Some experimental evidence sug-gests that even though evaluators report liking women more thanmen (15), they judge women as less competent than men evenwhen they have identical backgrounds (20). However, thesestudies used undergraduate students as participants (rather thanexperienced faculty members), and focused on performancedomains outside of academic science, such as completing per-ceptual tasks (21), writing nonscience articles (22), and beingevaluated for a corporate managerial position (23).Thus, whether aspiring women scientists encounter discrimi-

nation from faculty members remains unknown. The formativepredoctoral years are a critical window, because students’ expe-riences at this juncture shape both their beliefs about their ownabilities and subsequent persistence in science (30, 31). There-fore, we selected this career stage as the focus of the presentstudy because it represents an opportunity to address issues thatmanifest immediately and also resurface much later, potentiallycontributing to the persistent faculty gender disparity (32, 33).

Current StudyIn addition to determining whether faculty expressed a biasagainst female students, we also sought to identify the processescontributing to this bias. To do so, we investigated whetherfaculty members’ perceptions of student competence would helpto explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relativeto an identical male) student for a laboratory manager position.Additionally, we examined the role of faculty members’ preex-isting subtle bias against women. We reasoned that pervasivecultural messages regarding women’s lack of competence in sci-ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudesthat might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)science students. These generalized, subtly biased attitudes to-ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent studentsdifferently as a function of their gender.The present study sought to test for differences in faculty

perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and womenpursuing careers in science and, if such a bias were discovered,reveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-ence. We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position asthe primary dependent variable of interest because it functions asa professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities. Assecondary measures, which are related to hiring, we assessed: (i)perceived student competence; (ii) salary offers, which reflectthe extent to which a student is valued for these competitivepositions; and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed asdeserving of faculty mentoring.Our hypotheses were that: Science faculty’s perceptions and

treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring malestudents in perceptions of competence and hireability, salaryconferral, and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A); Faculty gen-der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B); Hiring

discrimination against the female student would be mediated (i.e.,explained) by faculty perceptions that a female student is lesscompetent than an identical male student (hypothesis C); andParticipants’ preexisting subtle bias against women would mod-erate (i.e., impact) results, such that subtle bias against womenwould be negatively related to evaluations of the female student,but unrelated to evaluations of the male student (hypothesis D).

ResultsA broad, nationwide sample of biology, chemistry, and physicsprofessors (n = 127) evaluated the application materials of anundergraduate science student who had ostensibly applied fora science laboratory manager position. All participants receivedthe same materials, which were randomly assigned either thename of a male (n = 63) or a female (n = 64) student; studentgender was thus the only variable that differed between con-ditions. Using previously validated scales, participants rated thestudent’s competence and hireability, as well as the amount ofsalary and amount of mentoring they would offer the student.Faculty participants believed that their feedback would beshared with the student they had rated (see Materials andMethods for details).

Student Gender Differences. The competence, hireability, salary con-ferral, and mentoring scales were each submitted to a two (studentgender; male, female) × two (faculty gender; male, female) be-tween-subjects ANOVA. In each case, the effect of student genderwas significant (all P < 0.01), whereas the effect of faculty partici-pant gender and their interaction was not (all P > 0.19). Tests ofsimple effects (all d > 0.60) indicated that faculty participantsviewed the female student as less competent [t(125) = 3.89, P <0.001] and less hireable [t(125) = 4.22, P < 0.001] than the identicalmale student (Fig. 1 and Table 1). Faculty participants also offeredless careermentoring to the female student than to themale student[t(125) = 3.77, P < 0.001]. The mean starting salary offered thefemale student, $26,507.94, was significantly lower than that of$30,238.10 to the male student [t(124) = 3.42, P < 0.01] (Fig. 2).These results support hypothesis A.In support of hypothesis B, faculty gender did not affect bias

(Table 1). Tests of simple effects (all d < 0.33) indicated thatfemale faculty participants did not rate the female student asmore competent [t(62) = 0.06, P = 0.95] or hireable [t(62) = 0.41,P = 0.69] than did male faculty. Female faculty also did notoffer more mentoring [t(62) = 0.29, P = 0.77] or a higher salary[t(61) = 1.14, P = 0.26] to the female student than did their male

Fig. 1. Competence, hireability, and mentoring by student gender condition(collapsed across faculty gender). All student gender differences are significant(P < 0.001). Scales range from 1 to 7, with higher numbers reflecting a greaterextent of each variable. Error bars represent SEs. nmale student condition = 63,nfemale student condition = 64.

2 of 6 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al.

• Male students were ranked higher in everything

• The only difference between the male and female students was the names on CVs

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/14/1211286109

If I Can Make it Here...

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I can make it in any …

Imag

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I can make it in any …

Imag

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small seaside town with entrenched sexist attitudes

Sexism in St Andrews

Sign on the all-maleNew Golf Club, St Andrews1990s

Now it just says “Members Only”But the golf club is still all-male

Image from Ursula Martin’s Inaugural Lecture, 1996

Sexism in St Andrews• The University is 600 years old, yet ...

• Its first female professor was a computer scientist!

• Prof Ursula Martin CBE, now at Oxford

• Yes, a 600 year old University’s first female professor hasn’t retired yet!

• For 579 years we didn’t have a female Prof

• The vote to admit women to the Royal & Ancient Golf Club passed on 18 Sep 2014

• For 595 years we didn’t have a female Principal

• Prof Louise RichardsonImag

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MU

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Photo: Corrine Pickering

Imag

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http://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/items/61468.html



Dundee Woman in Science• Actually St Andrews had a female

professor in 1940 … sort of

• Margaret Fairlie

• First female professor in Scotland

• Head of Ob&Gyn, Royal Infirmary, Dundee

• Really Prof at Dundee University

• then College of St Andrews

• In fact St Andrews held up her chair from 1936-1940!

Image: Wikimedia Commons

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fairlie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Fairlie

The Petrie Multiplier

• Karen Petrie

• Senior Lecturer in Computing at Dundee

• Computing graduate of St Andrews

• And inventor of the Petrie Multiplier

• (but not the namer of it!)

Images: Ian Gent

Dundee Woman in Science

http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/ac_staff/staffdetails.asp?354

The Petrie Multiplier• A thought experiment

• Let’s assume no gender difference in sexism

• Say 20% of people act like jerks to the opposite sex

• And 20% of CS people are women

• We will see amazing difference in result

• http://iangent.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-petrie-multiplier-why-attack-on.html

http://iangent.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-petrie-multiplier-why-attack-on.html

Let’s start with 32 men.



In pink of course


In pink of courseThe boy’s colour

I am related to a woman (1)

Photo: Ian Gent

My daughters playing a classic

computer game at National Media Museum, 2012


Photo: Ian Gent

Aside: Can you see what game they are

playing?


Photo: Ian Gent

Doesn’t take my daughters long to see

#EverydaySexism

“…because pastels”

• Snazaroo face paints in Ryman, St Andrews

• March 14, 2015

Image: Ian Gent, 2015


“The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”

-- Earnshaw's Infants' Department 1918

“The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls.”

Something to remember next time you catch yourself thinking some gender difference is inherent

Let’s add 8 women.

Let’s add 8 women.In blue

Now add 8 more men

who act like jerks to women

Now add 8 more men

who act like jerks to women

And 2more womenwho act like jerks to men

And 2more womenwho act like jerks to men

Remember!Each gender is equally jerky to

the other

Let’s see whathappens.

Some manacted like a

jerk to some woman.

Not good.

Some womanacted like a

jerk to some man.

Also not good.

12/10/2013 18:00%3

Page 1 of 1file:///Users/ipg/Work/Talks/Sexism/images/petrie80.svg

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12/10/2013 18:13%3


12/10/2013 18:13%3


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Man Woman

Lucky

Typical

Unlucky

12/10/2013 18:00%3


12/10/2013 18:00%3


12/10/2013 18:00%3


12/10/2013 18:13%3


12/10/2013 18:13%3


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Man Woman

Lucky 0 4

Typical 0.35 5.6

Unlucky 3 9

12/10/2013 18:00%3


12/10/2013 18:00%3


12/10/2013 18:00%3


12/10/2013 18:13%3


12/10/2013 18:13%3


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Man Woman

Lucky 0 4

Typical 0.35 5.6

Unlucky 3 9

Unluckiest man of 40 does better than luckiest woman of 10!

• 0.35 bad experiences per man

• 5.6 bad experiences per woman

• 16x as many

• Ratio of bad experiences is square of gender ratio

• 80% men : 20% women = 4 : 1

Petrie Multiplier: Lessons

• With women underrepresented

• Women experience amazing disparity of sexism

• With no assumption that men are worse

• So attacks on sexism in CS...

• ... and statements that women get it worse than men

• are not attacks on men

People really like the Petrie Multiplier

http://www.theguardian.com/science/life-and-physics/2015/mar/08/the-petrie-multiplier

International Women’s Day 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/science/life-and-physics/2015/mar/08/the-petrie-multiplier

http://www.theguardian.com/science/life-and-physics/2015/mar/01/given-a-multiverse-does-astrology-work-somewhere

http://www.theguardian.com/science/life-and-physics/2015/mar/01/given-a-multiverse-does-astrology-work-somewhere

Playable post by the awesome Vi Hart and Nicky Case

http://ncase.me/polygons/


This is a picture of two computer scientists preparing for an event to get more women into computer science in 1992.

Selfie taken using the awesome wonder of a digital camera!

The woman on the right

was then the smartest person I

knew.

She still is, and yes she is now my wife.

Image: Judith Underwood and Ian Gent

Only one in the room• While I was helping try to get girls

into science

• I went to a meeting

• About 30 women : 1 or 2 men

• All the women were really nice

• And I felt really uncomfortable

• This has happened to me once

• This happens to women in CS every day

Only one in the room• While I was helping try to get girls

into science

• I went to a meeting

• About 30 women : 1 or 2 men

• All the women were really nice

• And I felt really uncomfortable

• This has happened to me once

• This happens to women in CS every day


Don’t worry your pretty little head about it

• Some guy’s computer in a lab was stuck

• She tried to tell him that this computer needed to be left alone for 15 minutes

• Then it would come back to life

• All the regulars in the lab knew this

• He kept hitting keys

• cos what would she know?

• In frustration she said...

• “Just leave it alone for 15 minutes ...

... and don’t worry your pretty little head about it”

What can we do?

• We can’t change today the gender imbalance

• We can make CS a much nicer place for women to be

• We can do three simple things...

Three Simple Things

1.Don’t be a jerk to women in CS

2.Don’t use sexist language

3.Understand that it’s not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2.

Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to disabled in CS

2.Don’t use ableist language


Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to non-whites in CS

2.Don’t use racist language


Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to people from deprived backgrounds in CS

2.Don’t use classist language


Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to mentally ill people in CS

2.Don’t use mentalist language


Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to transgendered people in CS

2.Don’t use cissexist language


Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to older people in CS

2.Don’t use ageist language


Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to gay people in CS

2.Don’t use homophobic language


Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to religious people in CS

2.Don’t use religionist language


Not just women

1.Don’t be a jerk to tall or short people in CS

2.Don’t use heightist language


None of the above?• Even if it was ok to be a jerk to a ...

• Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill cisgendered male of about your age, height and religion

• (it’s not ok to be a jerk to him)

• How do you know he’s all those things?

• is it so obvious I’m on prozac?

• http://www.depressedacademics.blogspot.com

http://www.depressedacademics.blogspot.com

Back to Women

• Going to return to focus on women

• Not because other groups are not important

• Just to make it easier to talk specifically

1. Don’t be a jerk

• This is really simple to understand

• Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is really widespread

• I’m not going to provide examples

• it would take too long

• seriously, it’s almost unimaginable how long it would take

2. Don’t use sexist language

• I mean this in two ways

• Don’t use language that implies CS people are men

• remember the Computer Scientist and the Cleaner

• leads to females feeling excluded

• and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper

• Don’t engage in sexist “banter”

3.You don’t get to decide...


• This is really hard to understand

• Maybe you think somebody shouldn’t be offended when they tell you they are

• Tough! Guess what, they were offended!

• You only have two options

• “I’m sorry, but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by what I said”

• “I’m sorry, I’ll try harder not to say things like that in future”

Never say “It’s only banter”

• "Banter" is apparently a free pass: I can insult you, but you're not allowed to be insulted, because "it's only banter". I can be obscene, but you can't be offended, because "it's only banter". No. If you're a grown-up, you know that your offensiveness may offend, and you either accept that or you apologise and don't do it again.

Tom Chivers,

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100141906/if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot/

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100141906/if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot/

Better For Everybody“I want the world of science and engineering to be a world that embraces everybody”

Maria Klawe, 2013

Computer ScientistPresident of Harvey Mudd College

where women in CS final year went from 10% to 48% in seven years

Imag

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Col

lege

http://www.hmc.edu/about1/administrativeoffices/officeofthepresident1/bio.html

Another thing we can do is …

Talk about our geek heroines for Ada Hope I’ve done some of that today…

Talk about our geek heroines

but saved the best for last

http://iangent.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/ada-lovelace-day.html


Photo: Ian Gent (or close relative)

My Ada Lovelace day heroine


My mother Ann Margaret Gent

A Mills & Boon author….

A Mills & Boon author

Photo: Abe BooksPhoto: Ian Gent (or close relative)

A woman of calculators


4 bit calculator from sister’s doll’s house base!

Curta Calculator TI-57 Programmable Calculator

imag

es W

ikip

edia

Midair cockpit swapper

Photo: LA(PHOT) Abbie Herron/MODPhoto: Ian Gent (or close relative)

Thanks to... Many people at St Andrews including a standup comedian sex researcher, a historian at the University of Dundee, a professor, a reader, a software engineer and a postdoc from Edinburgh University, the former chair of BCS Women, the first female professor at St Andrews, a New York Times bestselling children's author, an antiques dealer in Wales, the Oxford University Student's Union LGBT officer, a high school teacher in Denmark, a postdoc at Liverpool, a freelance photographer, a beer researcher from Heriot Watt, , a rocket scientist from NASA, a swordfish cockpit swapping Mills & Boon author, a graduate of the first college in the USA to admit women, two pantomime performers from Fife and the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.

Education

Women in Science 2015: The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner