Can early computer science education boost number of women in tech?

Even as women have made big strides in once-male-dominated professions such as law and medicine, they've been left far behind when it comes to computer science, a lucrative discipline that is the primary driver of the 21st century economy.

The latest US Department of Education figures from 2011 put the number of computer science degrees awarded to women at 17.6 percent. All of which helps explain why women hold less than one quarter of computing jobs in the country, according to an analysis by the Anita Borg Institute. Those who have studied the issue are reluctant to identify one culprit in what is a tangle of political, social, educational and personal considerations. But after talking to dozens of researchers, academics, technologists, educators and students, it is evident that the nation's education system, from kindergarten through college, simply has not lived up to the task of sufficiently encouraging women to pursue courses and careers in computer science.

What would encouragement and exposure look like? Harvey Mudd College, a small liberal arts school in Claremont, created an introductory course specifically for students without programming experience. They emphasized coding's connection to other disciplines. They paid for freshman women to attend the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, a chance to meet programming role models in diverse fields. And they provided early research opportunities for women students to inspire them to stick with the field. The result? The percentage of female computer science majors at Harvey Mudd increased from about 10 percent before the initiatives to 43 percent today.