Men supporting women computer science students

ABSTRACT

It has become clear that, for a variety of reasons, women CS enrollments are declining at a disproportionate rate and that the number of women “in the pipeline” is insufficient to mentor and otherwise support the development of CS interests among current young women in the field. Recommendations have been made for male assistance in this mentoring effort; and some ideas toward this end are presented here. Regrettably, in this context, it is necessary to head off charges of “patronizing” our women students lest the ideas be disregarded or trivialized.

REFERENCES

• 1: Danielle R. Bernstein, Comfort and experience with computing: are they the same for women and men?, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, v.23 n.3, p.57-60, Sept. 1991 [doi>10.1145/126459.126472]
• 2: Critcher, A.; Hanchey, C.M.; Myers, J.P., Jr.; Gerhart, S., "Gender-Related Issues in Computing," Report of a panel presentation, Proceedings of the Second Annual South Central Small College Computing Conference, St. Edward's University, Austin, Texas, April 12-13, 1991.
• 3: Karen A. Frenkel, Women and computing, Communications of the ACM, v.33 n.11, p.34-46, Nov. 1990 [doi>10.1145/92755.92756]
• 4: Amy Pearl , Martha E. Pollack , Eve Riskin , Elizabeth Wolf , Becky Thomas , Alice Wu, Becoming a computer scientist, Communications of the ACM, v.33 n.11, p.47-57, Nov. 1990 [doi>10.1145/92755.92757]
• 5: Rechard, O., "Women in Computing", NSF Women in Science Grant, University of Denver, 1981-82.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Computer science education

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.2 User/Machine Systems
          Subjects: Human factors

General Terms:
Human Factors