Inclusive Education Strategies for Diversity in Smart Workforce

Abstract

We review the situation of women in computing professions and note that there is a mismatch between the percentage of women in computing jobs on one hand and their percentage in the population on the other. The absence of women in the computing workforce is to their detriment and the detriment of employers. Companies face difficulties when trying to fill open software positions with qualified applicants. Product teams are missing out on design input from "50% of the population."Women are denied the social mobility that well-paying computing jobs provide. Thus, improving the percentage of women in the computing workforce would be beneficial to the companies in multiple ways, to the women, and to society as whole, making it more equitable. Unfortunately, achieving this goal is a problem that has resisted decades of efforts. Only a multi-pronged approach spanning all levels of education, government and industry can lead to a breakthrough. It is especially urgent to overcome the shortage of qualified and certified middle and high school teachers. We present ongoing activities at one college to bring women into computing and to keep them in the program, and suggestions how governments at the federal and state levels can contribute to overcoming the computing teacher shortage, creating a pipeline to CS programs in colleges.