The Role of ‘Intersectional Capital’ in Undergraduate Women's Engagement in Research-Focused Computing Workshops

Intersectionality in Computer Science: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The importance of having a network of support was discussed in S13, as being around other people of similar intersectional backgrounds makes one feel less isolated [27]. These networks could be in the form of a peer community since this simultaneously creates a CS network and a social network, presented in S14 [35]. Having a social network in CS was found critical in increasing the probability of choosing CS in higher education [35] [33] [25] [26].…”

“…These networks could be in the form of a peer community since this simultaneously creates a CS network and a social network, presented in S14 [35]. Having a social network in CS was found critical in increasing the probability of choosing CS in higher education [35] [33] [25] [26]. Moreover, the academic/professional CS network was essential in building career confidence and technical skills [35] [21] [16] [36] [27] [32]; further supporting retention in CS.…”

“…Having a social network in CS was found critical in increasing the probability of choosing CS in higher education [35] [33] [25] [26]. Moreover, the academic/professional CS network was essential in building career confidence and technical skills [35] [21] [16] [36] [27] [32]; further supporting retention in CS. Thus, the network that a person is involved in can help increase their sense of belonging since they can identify with or have empathy for different intersectional experiences while also contributing to a richer, more inclusive environment in CS.…”

An Undergraduate Consortium for Addressing the Leaky Pipeline to Computing Research

“…A breadth of strategies supports the persistence in computing research for students from HMGs, such as research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) [16,22,28], attendance of technical conferences [42], and culturally-relevant research with real-world applications and societal impact [17,31,39]. Mentorship from faculty and other senior members of the field, especially when it is inclusive of students' multiple identities [34], directly supports student interest and outcomes in research and graduate school. Research mentoring in computing is positively associated with the quality of graduate programs students enter [12], overrides the difference in the sense of belonging between students from HMGs and the overrepresented majority (ORM) [36], and strengthens graduate student self-efficacy [37,38].…”

“…Research mentoring in computing is positively associated with the quality of graduate programs students enter [12], overrides the difference in the sense of belonging between students from HMGs and the overrepresented majority (ORM) [36], and strengthens graduate student self-efficacy [37,38]. However, not only are students from HMGs less likely to have access to these mentors [5,20], underrepresentation of all genders, races, and ethnicities within senior members of the field necessitate cultural competence and intersectional mentoring capacity among all members of the computing research community to actively and consistently demonstrate allyship, regardless of mentor or student identities [34,40].…”