It’s no secret that the
field of technology is widely dominated by men – in fact, the lack of women is
a widely circulated issue in of itself. Articles in the New York Times, The
Atlantic, and Valleywag among other sources blame the phenomenon on
male-directed sexual harassment and an unwelcoming environment. This lible,
however, is most effective in its ability to drown out alternative explanations
for the gender difference, such as the first and foremost reason why few women
are working in the technology industry today. Studies carried out by several
research groups have cumulatively reached a conclusion: the main reason for the
lack of women working in the tech industry is simply that women are largely not
interested in it. A field will only be gender-neutral once both sexes develop
an even desire to participate in it, and today the tech industry is by far
male-dominant. Limited female interest in the field of technology is the reason
for their absence, and to remedy this, the idea of technology must be presented
as a gender-neutral subject at a young age.
A stereotype seems to
loom over the tech industry that women and careers in technology are incompatible,
which is a broad and unfair statement to the multitudes of capable women who
could potentially work in the field. Regardless, this statement seems to be
hardly challenged: there are simply not enough women pursuing a tech career in
the first place. Research-based consultancy Penn, Schoen and Berland conducted
a study with the Girl Scouts of America, surveying their members as to what
their first job choice would be – a sparse 13% responded that they would
consider a STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) career.
Further, IT Manager Daily emphasized that only 18% of females going for a STEM
career in their study pursued a tech degree in college, whereas over 80% of
males decided to do so. This difference in numbers is far too large to ignore:
if there is a demand for more women to be working in the tech industry, then
there should be more women attempting to enter the industry in the first place.
The reason why women
are not pursuing the field of technology is rooted in early education – the
inherit interest is not developed in high school alongside other subjects. Hadi
Partovi, co-founder of Code.org, brought to light in a blog post that there are
three primary issues that keep young women from developing an interest in
technology.
1. Computer science is not taught in
U.S. schools (as a required course)
2. As an elective, it doesn’t
contribute to graduation requirements
3. The nerd stereotype is proven to
drive away women.
This
matter is further supported by the fact that with topics that are part of the school
curriculum or count towards graduation requirements like calculus, biology, and
chemistry, female to male participation is nearly 50/50. If computer science
was to be taught as a required subject in school, there would undoubtedly be an
influx of female participants due to early integration in the field.
Furthermore, with females not pursuing the field in the first place, younger
girls see no appeal in the field and therefore have no desire to attempt it.
With boys consistently participating in computer science courses and clubs,
younger males develop an interest through their older peers and as a result
dominate the field. This results in computer science being attached with an
overarching masculine ‘nerd’ stereotype, which rebuffs female interest. The odd
girl who gains an interest in computer science and rejects the stereotype will
be confronted with instruction directed towards male interests, alienating her
as she is an anomaly within a usually consistent field. The very issue of
having too few females in the technology industry is derived from the fact that
there are too few females making an attempt to join it in the first place.
What can
be taken away from these revelations is that if there is a desire to have
greater female presence in the tech industry, then there must simply be efforts
made to garner female interest in the field. Complaints and blame of sexism and
exclusion can be traced back to what normally occurs when an imbalance of any
social type takes place: the majority rejects the minority. Men in the tech
industry do not need to change – the male stigma hanging over the field of
technology itself must be removed. If computer science and technology courses
were taught to children as gender-neutral subjects, there would undoubtedly be
a shared interest in the future for men and women alike. In essence, a
de-masculinization of the concept of technology must occur, and in doing so
will create an even playing field men and women alike.
Studies by PSB and Girl Scouts of America: http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2012/06/05/heres-the-real-reason-there-are-not-more-women-in-technology/
Hadi Partovi’s discoveries:
http://www.geekwire.com/2014/codeorg-founder-real-reason-women-tech/
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