Hi, all.
I don't remember seeing this in the digests, so apologies if this work has already been posted.
I came across an historical article from a 1968 edition of Cosmopolitan, The Computer Girls [1] and this amazing add targeted at female programmers [2].
This was cited in a recent Washington Post [2] story exploring the absence of women in tech. The writer talks about women who worked as Keypunch girls in the 60s and the ebb and flow of women programers ever since. I think this kind of story is common knowledge, as I remember reading similar things in the past, but I've never actually seen the original Cosmo story or some of the stats that were included.
Like Sue experienced during her CBC interview, there's a common misconception that the STEM gender gap is closing. This article helps support what this list already knows:
In 1967, when Cosmo’s “The Computer Girls” article ran, 11 percent of computer science majors were women. In the late 1970s, the percentage of women in the field approached and exceeded the same figure we are applauding today: 25 percent. The portion of women earning computer science degrees continued to rise steadily, reaching its peak — 37 percent — in 1984. Then, over the next two decades, women left computer science in droves — just as their numbers were increasing steadily across all other science, technology, engineering, and math fields. By 2006, the portion of women in computer science had dropped to 20 percent.
I'm still fascinated by the Cosmo story! Hope this is useful.
[1] http://thecomputerboys.com/?tag=gender# [2] http://thecomputerboys.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/susie-meyer.jpg [3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-computer-programming-was-womens-...
--