A study of barriers to women in undergraduate computer science

Abstract

Worldwide, there is a significant discrepancy between the numbers of male and female graduates from computer science programs. SUNY Geneseo offers no exception. The literature cites a number of plausible explanations for the problem, but no definitive answers. We conducted a study to determine why few women complete our own computer science major. Our major finding is that (at least on our campus) the problem is not actually one of retention. Few women - even those in the introductory computer science courses - actually plan to major in computer science to begin with. Although some barriers suggested in the literature do operate within the major, they seem much less significant than the low entry rates. Retention of women once they enter the major is important, but it is secondary to getting women into the major initially. This suggests that the most effective solutions will be those that concentrate not on retention but on recruitment (including outreach to secondary schools).