Women planning to major in computer science: Who are they and what makes them unique?

Disciplinary Field Specificity and Variation in the STEM Gender Gap

“…Women computer science majors also rate themselves lower than their counterparts in other STEM fields on public‐speaking ability, risk‐taking, and physical health. These distinctions between women and computing and those from other STEM fields are generally consistent with findings from Lehman, Sax, and Zimmerman () using CIRP data from 2015.…”

“…However, in their foundational study of women in computing at Carnegie Mellon University, Fisher, Margolis, and Miller (1997) found that women in computing were also high achievers but were less academically prepared for computer science specifically than the men in their major, as none of the women in their sample took AP Computer Science courses. More recently, Lehman, Sax, and Zimmerman (2016) also found women in computer science earned lower grades in high school math and science courses than women in other STEM fields. Career Aspirations.…”

“…Women across different STEM subfields have been shown to indicate a range of career goals. Recent studies have found that most women in engineering majors do go into engineering careers, and most women in the biological sciences aspire to earn a terminal medical degree and go into health care; however, women in computing and physical sciences are more diffuse in their career interests (Kahn & Ginther, ; Lehman et al., ; Morgan, Gelbgiser, & Weeden, ; Sax et al., ). Similarly, women majoring in math are far less likely to be interested in continuing onto the graduate school in mathematics and are instead drawn to careers in business or K‐12 education (Sax et al., ; Snyder, Dillow, & Hoffman, ).…”

“…These reflect several in the cognitive domain (academic ability, intellectual self-confidence) and several in the affective domain (e.g., compassion, emotional health, drive to achieve, leadership ability, social self-confidence, spirituality). Women computer science majors also rate themselves lower than their counterparts in other STEM fields on public-speaking ability, Lehman, Sax, and Zimmerman (2016) using CIRP data from 2015. Science Skills and Belonging.…”

How Can Universities Best Encourage Women to Major in Information Systems?

“…Further, we could not test the relative interaction of the factors due to the limitations prescribed by our Institutional Review Board. We selected the following factors for purposeful interventions in this study: (Beyer, 2014;Croasdell, McLeod, & Simkin, 2011;Joshi & Kuhn, 2011;Lang, 2012;Lehman et al, 2017).  Belief that IS is not creative or useful to society as a whole.…”