So how exactly do the demographics of my EECS courses relate to Brey’s theories? Well, the lack of women in my courses is a microcosm of the gender disparity in the computer science field as a whole. Don’t believe me? According to an article on US News, “studies estimate that women will hold only 20 percent of computing jobs by 2025.”[1] With men holding such a large proportion of computer science related jobs, they then have the most significant input into the design of the systems. As a result, pre-existing gender biases develop within these technologies. This has been shown in technologies such as Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri displaying gender-word biases, along with Amazon recruitment tools ranking equally qualified female candidates lower than their male counterparts as a result of being written and tested with males in mind.
So what can be done? As straightforward as it sounds, we simply need more women to pursue careers in computer science. Whether it be trying to spark interest in computers for girls at a young age, creating girls only coding clubs in high schools, or redesigning curriculum to encourage girls to pursue computer science studies, something must be done. And trust me, studying computer science isn't that bad! Yea, maybe sometimes you have to spend 48 hours straight in the library to get a project done on time but that’s part of the fun!
Closing the gender disparity in the field of computer science starts with closing the gender disparity in computer science education. Unfortunately, until this gap closes, these pre-existing biases will likely remain and continue to plague modern technological innovations.
References
1. Galvin, Gaby. “Study: Middle School Is Key to Girls' Coding Interest.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 20 Oct. 2016, www.usnews.com/news/data-mine/articles/2016-10-20/study-computer-science-gender-gap-widens-despite-increase-in-jobs.
Hi Kyle, great post! I really enjoyed your introduction and the way you weaved your voice in throughout the piece. I also liked that you brought in Brey's theories at the beginning of the piece and connected how pre-existing biases in systems applies to the idea of the CS field as a whole. I also liked that you provide some tangible ways in which we can solve this issue, which makes the piece more engaging and action-oriented. I know the word count is limited, but something that I think you could expand upon is the reason behind these disparities that you see. While the statistic certainly helps quantify the gap, I think that exploring some of the reasons behind why there are fewer women in CS can help transition to your 'solutions' in a more clear way. Overall, great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Kyle,
ReplyDeleteOverall very engaging post! I thought the introduction was funny and the pictures were entertaining/relevant. I also liked how you talked about Brey so early in your article, it's not easy tying in the reading so early!
The only piece of constructive criticism is that I wish you talked more about the consequences of not having enough women in CS. For example, you talked about how Siri and Alexa use gender-word biases, but it goes further than that. Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant all use female voices. There are probably a few reasons for this, but a main one is that women are typically seen as helpers/assistants. Perhaps if more women were on this team, a man's voice would've have been used and these stereotypes about women would stop being perpetuated. When women/people other than men are excluded from building software, it is impossible not to build biased software because of the lack of diverse thought.
Hi Kyle,
ReplyDeleteThe grammar, spelling, and structure of your new post flows much better than the previous one, so there is definitely some improvement. You still have a lingering grammar error since "yeah" is most often spelled with an H but this is the only one I can now find. I certainly agree with your view that girls and women should be encouraged to pursue a career in computer science, and while you suggest ways to address the gender gap in the profession, I would have liked to see those that would fix the technological biases in the meantime as well.
Hi Kyle,
ReplyDeleteYour opening paragraph is very enganging and does a great job of introducing the topic and the reading of the blog post. You do a great job of analyzing the reading and applying meaningful insight. I also like how you add some ideas to fix the problem. This reads much better than the last edition. Good job!
Hi Kyle,
ReplyDeleteI agree with a few above comments, the improved flow and transitions of this revised post are really noticeable and make a huge difference when it comes to quality. I really enjoyed this post, it's definitely something that has, unfortunately, always been a part of the software industry. I'm really glad that other males are aware of just how much they outnumber women in the classroom and the industry and I'm happy you have written about it. Really good post overall!