How does biology explain the low numbers of women in computer science? Hint: it doesn't.
- 1. How does biology explain the low numbers of women in computer science? Hint: It doesn't.
- 4. Nowadays, I work as a computer scientist. There aren't that many women in CS.
- 5. People like to say this is due to biological differences in math ability between men and women.
- 8. People claim the biological differences go like this: Rawr! I eat calculus for lunch! Math is hard. Let's go shopping! Men Women Rawr! I eat calculus for lunch! Math is hard. Let's go shopping! Men Women
- 9. That's not how it works Rawr! I eat calculus for lunch! Math is hard. Let's go shopping! Men Women Rawr! I eat calculus for lunch! Math is hard. Let's go shopping! Men Women
- 10. Ability graphs look more like this: Most normal people fall somewhere near the middle Only a few geniuses Ability # of people
- 11. When they hear men have higher math scores than women, people guess math is like this: Ability # of people Men Women
- 12. Which could explain why computer science is around 75% male... Ability # of people Men Women Must be at least this tall to write computer code
- 14. First, CS doesn't require that much math ability. When I was an undergrad, we drew the graph like this: Trees Computer Science Majors Slime Mould Moose Math majors
- 16. But degree rivalry aside, I've been teaching CS for 7 years. You only need moderate math skills to code. Ability # of people Level needed to code
- 17. So that'd be something like this... Old Graph: Very few women New Graph: Lots more women Ability # of people Men Women Must be at least this tall to write computer code Dotted line is average for both genders
- 21. Don't believe me? Here's the graph from a paper on the subject. Hyde, J; Fennema, E; Lamon, S. “Gender differences in mathematics performance: A meta-analysis.” Psychological Bulletin. Vol 107(2), Mar 1990, 139-155.
- 22. So if we put that line back in... We should have nearly 50% women Ability # of people Men Women You must be approximately this tall to write code
- 23. Therefore, Biological differences do not account for the gender disparity in computer science. They can't. They just aren't that significant. Not even close.
- 24. Also... You know who really sucks at math? People who think biology explains why there aren't more women in CS.
- 26. This presentation was created by Terri Oda And is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license: If you want to use it in other ways, just ask: [email_address] Or email to let me know you liked it!