Mind-blowing: "The female share of computer science bachelor’s degrees actually peaked at 37.1% in 1984 before going into a steady decline for about the next quarter century and stabilizing at about 18% starting in 2008 at about half the share of the 1984 peak." - ThreadSky

Mind-blowing: "The female share of computer science bachelor’s degrees actually peaked at 37.1% in 1984 before going into a steady decline for about the next quarter century and stabilizing at about 18% starting in 2008 at about half the share of the 1984 peak."

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allemandenfrance.bsky.social•55 days ago

Very interesting data. Is there any explanation ? In 2000 I was already in Management, and we got a massive surplus of talents from Eastern Europe (male/female 80/20), but this does not explain the decline of female degrees.

handle.invalid•55 days ago

This seems to be the most-cited paper on the topic:
https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.1257306

A former female colleague, who studied CS during the first wave, made me aware of the phenomenon ~2014, noting a decided change in curricula (essentially less creativity), and a rise of toxic bro culture since the 1980s.

jazzisblue.bsky.social•54 days ago

I can attest. @drcaberry.bsky.social has been doing some analysis in this area and may have insight.

drcaberry.bsky.social•54 days ago

I was going to also say the bro culture and toxic environment turns women off, similarly for engineering and STEM in general. #BlackSTEM #WomenSTEM

allemandenfrance.bsky.social•54 days ago

Can you explain a little bit more about this "bro culture" or toxic environments? I haven't experienced things like this during my career in Europe (working long years with global responsibility).

drcaberry.bsky.social•54 days ago

Absolutely! They treat anyone who is not a white cis male like they do not belong and are not meant to be in STEM fields. In college, or even in corporate America they question your credentials, presume you are incompetent, pass you over for promotions, won't put you on their teams, pay you less

mpoessel.de•54 days ago

Can you say what that means in absolute terms? Is there a decline in female students, or is it a matter of a greatly increased number of male students?

handle.invalid•54 days ago

cf. Sax et al. Fig. 2 (other reply): There were 2 peaks in CS enrollment: a 1st in early 1980s & a 2nd in the late 1990s. The 1st boom attracted both men & women equally, while in the 2nd males dominated.

handle.invalid•54 days ago

Note that fields with similar or higher skill-requirements, such as the biosciences attract more females. CS male dominance happens during a general "male enrollment crisis". So CS "culture" indeed seems to be an issue.

cf. the figure in https://grepbeat.com/2022/04/13/the-rate-of-female-comp-sci-majors-is-still-dispiritingly-low-what-can-be-done/

mpoessel.de•54 days ago

Ah, ok, thanks!

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