do something useful with their skills in
order to contribute to the social good.
Institutional Support Is Critical
We believe sustained student leadership, with women at the helm, has
been critical for building a more inclusive community at CMU, and for
enhancing the academic and social life
of the entire community. At the same
time, cultural change requires serious
institutional support and cannot be
left to chance, especially in a stubbornly male-dominated field like CS.
At CMU, we have found that institutional investment, providing funding,
guidance, and endorsement for programs developed through Women@
SCS, has paid off. The organization has
become a valuable resource for everyone while strengthening the image of
women in CS and challenging the stereotypes about who fits the field.
Cultural Factors Are More
Important than Gender Differences
Gender difference approaches often
argue that there are strong gender differences in the way girls and boys, or
men and women, relate to the field;
gender differences that work in favor
of men and against women. To solve
this problem and increase women’s
participation in CS it is suggested
that we need to pay more attention to
women’s interests and attitudes and
change CS accordingly. But approaches that recommend accommodating
differences—without recognizing that
such differences can change according
to the culture and environment—risk
perpetuating the gender divide.
This has not been our approach.
Indeed, we questioned these assump-
tions and constraints. Gender is first
and foremost a cultural issue not a
women’s issue, so rather than looking
at “gender differences” as our working
model we need to address the underly-
ing culture in which attitudes and op-
portunities for equality are influenced
and situated. This approach is sup-
ported by evidence from other cultures
outside the U.S. Galpin describes the
participation of women in undergrad-
uate computing in more than 30 coun-
tries concluding “(t)he reasons that
women choose to study computing will
vary from culture to culture, and from
country to country.” Studies of women
in computing in Mauritius and in Ma-
laysia found no problem with women’s
participation concluding “the under-
representation of women in CS is not a
universal problem.”
9
But the gender difference mindset—epitomized by the bestseller
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from
Venus10—has a strong hold on public
thinking in the U.S. and many parts
of the Western world. For example,
“… anonymous, aggregate data from
Google searches suggests that contemporary American parents are far
more likely to want their boys smart
and their girls skinny.”
13 The belief that
men are innately better at coding than
women, is a case in point. This mindset, fed by stereotypes, is relentlessly
perpetuated. In turn stereotypes feed
our unconscious biases, which, if left
unchecked, can often lead to negative
consequences for women in computing, and ultimately for the field itself.
Cultural Interventions
Are Needed for Change
We see culture as a dynamic process;
shaping and being shaped by those
who occupy it, in a synergistic diffusive process. A cultural approach examines a range of factors beyond gender as determinants of women’s
participation in CS including (but
not limited to) the parts played by
the K– 12 curriculum, stereotype
threat, opportunities for engagement in CS, opportunities for leadership, confidence levels, gender ratios, implicit bias, myths and
stereotypes. A cultural approach examines these factors and develops actions and programs to intervene as
We see culture as
a dynamic process;
shaping and being
shaped by those
who occupy it,
in a synergistic
diffusive process.
needed. Our latest intervention—
Bias-Busters@CMU—developed in collaboration with CMU’s College of Engineering and Google, works with the entire
campus on the difficult issue of mitigating implicit bias.
8
Interventions from Women@SCS
have increased the visibility of women,
placing them in leadership positions,
providing opportunities for them to
demonstrate their abilities, and to
challenge stereotypes, all with the
critical support of our deans, faculty
and staff. For example, recognizing
an often-familiar situation in which
students can go through their entire
school life without having a female
instructor, Women@SCS developed a
faculty-student lunch series, providing female students an opportunity to
meet role models and have personal
interactions in an informal setting.
Most importantly Women@SCS has
not been inward-looking. The organization has facilitated many outside the
classroom programs for the benefit of
the entire student body such as peer-to-peer interview and speaking skills
workshops, outreach in the community, and peer-to-peer advice sessions.
In 2014, Women@SCS was asked to
take the lead on SCS4ALL—http://
www.scs4all.cs.cm
u.edu/—a student
organization reaching out beyond
gender. Women@SCS has shown that
a women’s organization can be much
more than a “support” group for each
other, they can be a valuable resource
for building an inclusive community.
Conclusion
We have found that cultural change,
not curriculum change (often recommended by gender-difference approaches), is the key to sustaining a
community of women in CS. Indeed,
we advise caution when making changes based on appealing to stereotypes—
this may perpetuate the gender divide.
Institutional support is also critical
for real change and ultimate success—
this includes funding, guidance, and
philosophical advocacy for leveling the
playing field. CMU has not been afraid
to give women a voice, to listen to
women, and let women take the lead,
enabling them to play a valuable role in
changing the culture.
We suggest monitoring student attitudes toward, and experiences in, the