Why is the number of female programmers small?

ByPascal Klein

Mr. Bill · Gates, Steve Jobs, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg etc. big names of the IT industry are men. However, among pioneers in the computer fieldElsie ShuttThere were also women like Mr. And until 1984 the number of women majoring in computer science at university was gradually increasing with the aim of becoming a female programmer like her.

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In 1984 suddenly the proportion of women majored in computer science suddenly declined, and this proportion has been decreasing to the present age. The graphs that clearly show the situation are as follows, majoring in four fields such as "Medical School (Medical School)" "Law School (Law School)" "Physical Sciences (Physical Science)" "Computer Science" It shows the female ratio of students. In other fields, the proportion of females in all over the year is growing, whereas in computer science only the proportion of females has declined since 1984, and now it is disastrous that 20% has been cut off result. America'sNational Public Radio(NPR) is "When Women Stopped Coding(The moment the woman quits coding) ".


However, the ratio is decreasing, but the number of women majoring in computer science may be increasing gradually. The number of people who got degrees in computer science and information science in the period from 1970 to 2011,National Center for Education StatisticsThe following graph made clear from the data of.


As you can see from the graph above, the number of students acquiring degrees in Computer Science and Information Science has increased since 1970, which shows that it is found in both men and women. And from 1976 to 1985, the number of male degree holders has increased more rapidly than the female degree acquirer, which also shows that the ratio of men and women greatly deviated to the male side.

For this reason, NPR speculates that men have been the main targets of computer-related advertisements in the 1980s when the number of degrees in computer science and information science has increased rapidly . It is unknown why advertising agencies in the 80's marketed computers to men, but since the 1980's there have been several movies, magazines and novels in which computer geeks are appearing, so that "computers are for men" It seems that things like the thought of being formed may have been formed.

Actually looking at TV commercials in the 1980s, you can see that the computer is being sold on the market with the position "terminal for men".

80's Radio Shack Color Computer Commercial - YouTube


Apple computer ad 1985 JH - YouTube


And since 1986, the number of degrees in the field of computer science and information science as a whole has decreased, and it can be seen by a single shot that this phenomenon of decline continues until 1993 as it is shown in the graph. In addition, the number of female degrees obtained in the field of computer science and information science in 1993 was only about 52% in 1985-86, which was the peak in the past.


In the subsequent years from 1997 to 2003, the number of degrees with degrees in computer science and information science has increased rapidly, and it is clear that the secondary boom (1997 - 2003) is rolling up . The big difference between the first boom (1976 - 1985) and the second boom is that there was already a big gap between the number of men and women who obtained degrees at the time the boom started. In the secondary boom, the number of male degree holders increased by 143% each year, whereas women increased only 124% each year. The second boom isDot com bubble, And as a result of the dot-com bubble fascinating interest in the IT industry, the number of degrees in the field of computer science and information science increased, the number of acquirers declined as the bubble bursts It seems to be said that.


After that, from 2003 to 2009 again the number of degree holders decreased again. In the case of men, the number of credits has decreased by 36% since the peak in 2004, and for women, the number of credits has decreased by more than 50% since 2003 peak.

Initially it is almost the only way to get a degree in computer science to work as a programmer in the IT industry, but now it is possible to become a programmer in various ways. In addition, even programmers, there are a wide variety of people from researching academic things to game programmers and programmers developing IT services, so from the mid 1980's only programmers took a degree in computer science It seems that it is thought that it is not a way to become, and that the number of degrees in computer science and information science has decreased.