How To Fix the Gender Gap in Technology

[seabeyond]

The effects of this gender gap reach far beyond whether women are building video games or coding Web apps alongside men (and making technology female-friendly—remember the Siri/abortion flap? Or the more recent dust-up over Asus’ leering tweet?). Over the past 10 years, three times as many jobs have been created in STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and math—than in non-STEM fields, and STEM workers have been far less likely to experience unemployment. Women who work in STEM also earn more than other female workers: an average of $31.11 an hour, compared with $19.26 for non-STEM women. The wage gap between the genders is also smaller in STEM fields, just 14 percent, compared with the 21 percent difference between men’s and women’s earning powers in the rest of the workforce.

Economists expect those trends to continue over the coming decade. And if American women can’t step up to meet the growing demand, our foreign competitors will. Brazil, India, and Malaysia are among the rising powers that have much more successfully prepared girls to enter computer science. Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, calls the fight to attract girls and young women to high-tech careers "our generation’s major frontier for equal outcomes for women." And Sandberg has a counterintuitive suggestion for how to close that gap: “Let your daughters play video games. Encourage your daughters to play video games!” she told me in an interview last fall.

*

So what can schools do to encourage girls in this direction? In 2005 the computer science faculty at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., decided to launch a major effort to attract first-year women to computer programming courses and keep them there. Professors noticed that men seemed to arrive in even the most rudimentary computer science classes with pre-existing programming knowledge—often acquired informally through online coding forums—that intimidated less experienced students. So they split the introductory course into two sections: one for true neophytes (who are more likely to be female), the other for those who had tinkered with programming in the past. Harvey Mudd also launched a summer computer science research internship for 10 female rising sophomores annually and began taking dozens of women CS students each year to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, where they get face time with professional mentors from companies like Cisco and IBM.* Since Harvey Mudd launched these initiatives, the CS program has grown from 31 percent to 42 percent female. Companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, HP, and Yelp have flooded the campus during recruiting season in a frantic search for female programmers.

*

Run by a nonprofit called Iridescent Learning, Technovation teaches teams of low-income girls programming and business skills by asking them to develop a real mobile Web app and then “pitch” it to a team of judges. Jasmine’s team developed “Trending,” an app that shows shoppers fashion trends and directs them to nearby stores or online retailers that carry a specific shoe or skirt. The team won second place in New York City. The winning effort was “HailNYC,” a girl-developed app that allows mobile phone users to communicate their location to taxi drivers.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/06/gender_gap_in_technology_and_silicon_valley_.html

[exboyfil]

1. My daughter (who is right now taking her ACT)

is looking at Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering. Her target school has about 10% women in this degree. I know the university says that women are encouraged to apply for special departmental scholarships (Meritorious students from underrepresented populations (women and certain ethnicities) are encouraged to apply).

I really think roadblocks were thrown up with my daughter (and my other daughter who is thinking Chemistry/Medicine) early in their academic careers. I had to fight to get both daughters into Algebra in 8th grade (this was key for my older daughter because that placement means that she has a shot of completing her first year of engineering while still in High School). It started with placement out of 6th grade into 7th grade math. My oldest was denied placement into PreAlgebra in 7th grade (I was never able to get her placed in that class). Through her hard work and the support of her 7th grade Math teacher (one of the finest teachers I have ever known) she skipped PreAlgebra. Algebra in 8th was very hard and she almost lost her A average but she got through it (thanks to another wonderful teacher who has now moved into administration which is very sad). She has now completed Honors Algebra II and Trig with a high A and tested out of College Precalculus. She starts Calculus I in the Fall as an 11th grader.

My youngest daughter did get placed into PreAlgebra in 7th grade after a massive intervention by me (including having her retake a CogAT test from four years ago they were using for placement decisions - a complete violation of the intent of that test). I am still angry about the situation, and I think two teachers in particular were to blame for the issue. My daughter just finished Algebra I with an A and the 3rd highest grade in her class. The above referenced math teacher who helped my older daughter in 7th grade Math was my younger daughter's teacher for Honors Algebra I. That man has shaped both my daughters' lives and I am thankful for him (he is retiring now - a real loss to the teachikng profession).

The ironic thing is that the two biggest impediments to my daughters' getting Algebra in 8th grade were women, while the two men mentioned above made a tremendous difference to my two daughters. Since 7th grade my daughters' have had wonderful math instruction.

[seabeyond]

2. what state? see, we just did not have that in our school system.

my son, who is a senior in high school now was in all pre ap and sp courses. about sophmore year he had to drop the ap math. junior year drop the ap science. math is just too challenging for him with his fuzzy brain and inability with sequential thinking. he needs to be told like 5 different ways before it clicks. he couldnt do it. he really excels in history and english. but again, i said something the other day about society saying girls lack in math and science. he refutes it adamantly. says that in his high school, the girls are top in their class in these two AP courses. he has girls that are friends helping him with his math.

i am not hearing it coming from his environment and we are in texas.

BUT... good for your daughters and your oldest. isnt this a fun time. i am having a blast. cause son is so beyond in his english and made it thru his four years math, SAT and ACT scores out the roof in english, he is getting stuff from colleges across the nation.

it is an exciting time for him.

[exboyfil]

3. Iowa

We have AP classes in her school but they don't translate well to the state university. I am paying for her courses right now (Chemistry and Speech this summer and Calculus I and College Composition in the Fall). We have something called Post Secondary Education Opportunity that does pay for college classes that are not offered by the school district. It appears that my daughter may be able to take C++ (which she is scheduled for this Fall), Calculus II and III, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Engineering Physics I and II, Statics, Dynamics, and Film Studies paid for by the state. One or more of these courses will be next summer, and I will have to pay for them. In fact unless she decides to take AP Psychology as a Senior she will not have any of the four core subjects at the High School for 11th or 12th grade.

At my daughter's high school she has more serious students that are girls, but the math performance is probably equivalent between them. I have paid for my daughter's two High School Junior Social Studies classes as well (online Economics and World History II through APEX - at $150/each a real bargin). My daughter's great love is Broadcast Journalism (she also does Yearbook Journalism). I have fixed her schedule next year so that she will have ample time to pursue this goal. The Honors and AP class rat race is over for her. She had finals in her four hardest classes on the same day this semester. It cost her her 4.0 (she got a high A- in Honors Chemistry). Except for Chemistry her college classes as a Junior will be online - she will be able to control her time a little better. She had several times this semester in which she had three tests on one day and two times in which she had four.

[seabeyond]

4. isnt ti interesting what they are doing with high school now a days.

i wanted son to take summer school college math this summer and next summer to get it out of the way, lol. he has gotten human geography, three history courses, two english courses, bmi (computer course), next year ap psychology and college biology and macro economics out of the way.

with college cost, it is a HUGE deal for families.

[exboyfil]

6. Great approach wish your son the

best. My daughter did a paper on online education in High School, and one of her contentions was the ability to compress time to allow college level work while still in High School. She pointed out trimming a year off of college saves $20K (at our state school) which is more valuable than the second level merit scholarship at Iowa. It is like betting versus paying for a sure thing. If my daughter gets B+s or better then she is in great shape for college graduation as an engineer and she probably has not hurt her chances for merit scholarships much either.

She is planning to do a series of videos when she is a senior documenting this experience (kind of a pathfinder for the kids to follow). The counseling department is not encouraging this approach (in fairness they are not trying to stop it either - they have been good to work with). I have obviously given her lots of advice on the subject (it is a hobby of mine).

The counseling department is still fixated on AP exams. This is what Iowa engineering does with AP (Iowa State is similar but not quite as bad):

AP Chemistry - You need a 5 on the test to get 1 semester credit (equivalent to what my daughter is doing this summer). Only 17% of the nation gets a 5. To get a 5 you need to know two semesters of college Chemistry very well (remember you only get credit for one semester). This is the reason I am paying $1,300 for my daughter to take College Chemistry this summer (right after her intensive High School Chemistry). She does not like Chemistry, she only needs Chemistry I for her major, and she will only have to learn in once (versus likely 3 times if she took AP Chemisty next year because she is not going to get a 5 - the AP class can only cover 75% of the material before the test anyway).

AP Language Arts - You need a 4 (ony about 35% get this score) and you get nothing in Engineering for the credit. That is why I am spending about a $1,000 for my daughter to take Speech and College Composition. These two courses get you out of Rhetoric at Iowa. The AP test does not get you out of Rhetoric, and you tie up a year at the High School taking classes in preparation of this AP exam.

AP Literature - You get to satisfy one of your five humanities/fine arts with a 4 on this test (again about 35% of the country gets that score) but since my daughter plans to minor in Film Studies she is going to have plenty of Humanities credits anyway. Again you tie up a year at the High School taking classes in preparation of this AP exam.

AP Biology - You get absolutely nothing at Iowa for this course. Not even in the Liberal Arts college. It is a useless course in terms of credit.

AP Calculus - A 4 gets you credit for Engineering Math I (first semester). Doing math at the High School would tie up my daughter for two years getting the first semester credit (assuming she hit the 4 which is pretty likely). She went ahead and tested out of College Precalculus on the strength of her Honors Algebra II/Trig course (the overlap in these two courses is extensive). She starts Calculus I in the Fall of her Junior year. It costs me $900 but it is worth it. She would be repeating much of her math at the High School in Honors Precalculus next year otherwise.

AP History/AP Psychology are not bad (a 3 gets you social studies credit).

My daughter's school also has a College Physics course. This course, while it is well taught, is particularly unsuitable for an engineering major. Why would you jeopardize your college GPA for an intensive course which does not count? That is why my daughter is taking the Engineering (Calculus based) version of this course.

You need to look at how APs are going to be applied at your target schools. I frankly think that Iowa has broken trust with the High Schools with their AP approach. It will be featured in one of my daughter's video stories.

[seabeyond]

7. vastly interesting. thank you. i will check it out

on the APs my son has gotten two fours and one 5. i dont know what he did this year. but, those scores are another reason teh schools are interested in him. he tests very very well. grades ar not par to his testing, on any of these tests. it works for my oldest. my youngest has never tested well, though his grades are more reflective of his knowledge. so see, it benefits some, and not others.

thanks for the info.

i am going to do a little more research.

[seabeyond]

5. my mom was born in iowa, dad grew up there.

they were the most mellow of people, live and let live. i love the country, too. they seem to be moving right, though.