Tufts Daily

Issue date: 4/25/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Matt Skibinski/Tufts Daily Two computer science students work on a computer project in a Halligan Hall computer lab. Tufts has started a variety of programs aimed at wooing more female students to become computer science majors.

We live in an age in which women are constantly told they can and should do anything men can. But as an increasing number of women join the ranks of men and become professional athletes, CEOs, world-class chefs, mathematicians and engineers, the field of computer science has seen a significant national decrease in the percentage of women involved.

Tufts, however, is at the field's forefront as it attempts to draw women into the discipline with specific scholarships aimed at women, the campus organization Women in Computer Science (WICS), and one of the few computer science faculties in the world with an equal number of men and women.

According to an April 17 article in The New York Times, women received about 38 percent of undergraduate bachelor's degrees offered in computer science in 1985. By 2003, that number had decreased to just 28 percent. This number was even smaller for schools offering additional graduate degrees in computer science in the 2003-2004 school year, resting at a mere 17 percent.

With so much effort and attention recently devoted to women in mathematical and scientific fields, why are many females still repelled by and underrepresented in computer science on a national scale? According to senior Stacey Ecott, the president and co-founder of Women in Computer Science at Tufts, women are affected by stereotypes associated with the field.

"I think there's such a strong stereotype that you have to be a nerdy hacker and sit in front of your computer all day," she said. "That's not what it's about. People have that really big misconception."

Ecott also noted the difficulty of the major itself, regardless of gender.

"People get into that first class or two, and it's hard; it's a hard major," she said. "I think we're scaring people away, big time."

Senior Lecturer of Computer Science Judy Stafford agreed. She has noticed a pattern among younger women first entering college.

"Female students coming out of high school have less of a concept of what computer science is than male students," she said. "A large percentage of students come to the department with misconceptions that computer science is about programming all night long and eating pizza and working alone."

Continued...

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