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Historical Studies in Computing, Information, and SocietyGender Bias in Computing

Historical Studies in Computing, Information, and Society: Gender Bias in Computing [This chapter examines the historical dimension of gender bias in the US computing workforce. It offers new quantitative data on the computing workforce prior to the availability of US Census data in the 1970s. Computer user groups (including SHARE, Inc., and the Mark IV software user group) are taken as a cross-section of the computing workforce. A novel method of gender analysis is developed to estimate women’s and men’s participation in computing beginning in the 1950s. The data presented here are consistent with well-known NSF statistics that show computer science undergraduate programs enrolling increasing numbers of women students during 1965–1985. These findings challenge the “making programming masculine” thesis and serve to correct the unrealistically high figures often cited for women’s participation in early computer programming. Gender bias in computing today is traced not to 1960s professionalization but to cultural changes in the 1980s and beyond.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

Historical Studies in Computing, Information, and SocietyGender Bias in Computing

Part of the History of Computing Book Series
Editors: Aspray, William
Misa, Thomas J.
Historical Studies in Computing, Information, and Society — Jan 2, 2020
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21 pages

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
ISBN
978-3-030-18954-9
Pages
115 –136
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-18955-6_6
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[This chapter examines the historical dimension of gender bias in the US computing workforce. It offers new quantitative data on the computing workforce prior to the availability of US Census data in the 1970s. Computer user groups (including SHARE, Inc., and the Mark IV software user group) are taken as a cross-section of the computing workforce. A novel method of gender analysis is developed to estimate women’s and men’s participation in computing beginning in the 1950s. The data presented here are consistent with well-known NSF statistics that show computer science undergraduate programs enrolling increasing numbers of women students during 1965–1985. These findings challenge the “making programming masculine” thesis and serve to correct the unrealistically high figures often cited for women’s participation in early computer programming. Gender bias in computing today is traced not to 1960s professionalization but to cultural changes in the 1980s and beyond.]

Published: Jan 2, 2020

Keywords: Gender issues; Computer user groups; SHARE, Inc.; Mark IV software package; Computer science; Computer programming; Grace Murray Hopper; Gender analysis; Computing profession; Computing workforce; Women in computing; IT workforce

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