Gender Codes Why Women Are Leaving Computing [Paperback]

The computing profession faces a serious gender crisis. Today, fewer women enter computing than anytime in the past 25 years. This book provides an unprecedented look at the history of women and men in computing, detailing how the computing profession emerged and matured, and how the field became male coded. Women's experiences working in offices, education, libraries, programming, and government are examined for clues on how and where women succeeded—and where they struggled. It also provides a unique international dimension with studies examining the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, Norway, and Greece. Scholars in history, gender/women's studies, and science and technology studies, as well as department chairs and hiring directors will find this volume illuminating.

Foreword ix

Preface xiii

Contributors xv

PART I: TOOLS FOR UNDERSTANDING 1

1 Gender Codes 3
Defining the Problem
Thomas J. Misa

2 Computer Science 25
The Incredible Shrinking Woman
Caroline Clarke Hayes

3 Masculinity and the Machine Man 51
Gender in the History of Data Processing
Thomas Haigh

PART II: INSTITUTIONAL LIFE 73

4 A Gendered Job Carousel 75
Employment Effects of Computer Automation
Corinna Schlombs

5 Meritocracy and Feminization in Confl ict 95
Computerization in the British Government
Marie Hicks

6 Making Programming Masculine 115
Nathan Ensmenger

7 Gender and Computing il£6