Latest Research: Gender Gap in Computing

Where Are the Girls?

Today less than 20% of computer science graduates are women. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that by 2020 there will be more than 1.4 million computing-related job openings. At current rates, however, we can only fill about 30% of those jobs with U.S. computing bachelor's grads. Girls represent a valuable, mostly untapped talent pool.

Girls in IT: The facts (NCWIT, 2012)

What Girls Say About STEM?

74% of teen girls are interested in STEM subjects. These girls:

• like to understand how things work, solve problems & do hands-on activities;
• are higher achievers and better students;
• do not consider STEM fields as their first career choice.

Generation STEM: What girls say about science, technology, engineering and math (Girls Scouts, 2012)

What’s the Problem?

Women and girls feel that computing fails to deliver the 3 most important characteristics they want from a career:

1. being passionate about their jobs;
2. doing interesting work; 
3. having the power to do good and make a difference.
   

New Image for Computing: Report on Market Research (Dot Diva, 2009)

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More Research

• Bridging the Encouragement Gap in Computing (NCWIT, 2019)
  
• Women in Tech: The Facts (NCWIT, 2016)
  
• Leaning Out: Teen Girls and Leadership (Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2015)
  
• Women Who Choose Computer Science - What Really Matters (Google, 2014)
  
• When Women Stopped Coding (NPR's Planet Money, 2014)
• Unlocking Opportunity for African American Girls: A Call to Action for Educational Equity (National Women’s Law Center, 2014)
  
• STEM job preparedness pipeline: Addressing education and culture locally (Mary Baldwin College, 2013)
• SciGirls Seven: How to Engage Girls in STEM (PBS SciGirls, 2013)
• The Grass Is Greener in Non-STEM Classes: Examining the Role of Competing Belonging to Undergraduate Women's Vulnerability to Being Pulled Away From Science (California State University, 2013)
• G.A.M.E.S. (Girls Advancing Mathematics, Engineering & Science) - S.T.E.M. National Initiative (Northeastern University, 2013)
• The Hidden STEM Economy (Brookings Institution, 2013)
• New Study Exposes Gender Bias in Tech Job Listings (Wired, 2013)
• CERN offers UN advice on bringing women into science (Symmetry, 2013)
• Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering (NSF, 2013)
• Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students (PNAS, 2012)
• Why the engineering, computer science gender gap persists (Scientific American, 2012)
• Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (AAUW, 2010)
• Young Women’s Perceptions of Technology and Engineering: Factors Influencing Their Participation in Math, Science and Technology? (University of Wisconsin, 2007)