As part of his exclusive interview with the BBC, Apple chief executive Tim Cook exclaimed that there is “no good excuse” for the lack of women in tech. I’m inclined to agree.
Put quite simply, when it comes to the development of technology we need as many females as we have males making the decisions. Diversity brings about innovation and equality.
Ofqual data shows that the number of female students studying computing at A-Level has increased since 2021, up 17.8% to 2,245. However, increasing the uptake of CS (Computer Science) is increasing at a pitiful rate. FFT Datalab data shows that in 2017 just 9% of students were female. Four years later in 2021 it is 15%. This stands out when you consider that CS has the biggest gender gap of all A-Level subjects.
Small efforts are in my view beginning to snowball, albeit slowly. What it takes is to get girls excited about what the technology can do, and for them to tell their friends about it. Personal recommendations are after all the holy grail of marketeers.
My heart melted with joy in assembly last week when I had a group of fearless Year 10 students stand up in front of Year 8s to encourage them to take part in the CyberFirst Girls competition. One of them exclaimed “It was the best thing I have done since joining this school”. If that is not sending out a powerful message then I don’t know what is.
As a teacher, I’d like to think that I show how much I valued the female population studying Computer. I will go out of my way to make them feel comfortable in lessons, arrange extra-curricular opportunities and empower students to take the lead by running technology themed clubs. It is really important that students feel a sense of belonging and that the imbalance between men and women is addressed.
Role models are also immensely influential. Not just the Ada Lovelaces of the past but those of the present. This is why I’ve had females from industry talk about their jobs with students – from working with VR to flying drones. I’m excited following a productive talk with fellow teachers and Professor Harin at Buckingham University with a view to facilitating conversations between graduates and school students – making sure that this includes excellent female role models. Bringing attention to videos, for example about esports is also useful.
It is not only girls that need convincing. Its their parents too. Such is how much our attitudes about gender and CS are ingrained in society.
I think that technology camps have helped to address the imbalance. I immensely admire Jill Hodges, founder of FireTechCamp (acquired by MyTutor in 2001) which attracted many youngsters by offering experiences to learn about a diverse range of technologies from music making to programming games. I had the privilege of working at some camps some years ago which included both male and female. They undoubtedly left a lasting positive influence on the children they taught.
From experience, girls can and do excel in Computer Science. In fact they can easily out perform boys!
Where did it all go wrong? In 1945, ladies were the driving force behind the development of general-purpose programming. Jean Jennings, Marlyn Wescoff, Ruth Lichterman, Betty Snyder, Frances Bilas and Kay McNulty (p97 The Innovators by Isaac Watson) were all famously involved in programming ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) and inventing the notion of subroutines. A quick Google Images search revels images of their magnificent minds at work. Jean Jennings before her passing in 2011 commented that “All the programmers who created the first general-purpose computer were women”. There are many more such stories about women’s involvement in early technology before men came to dominate the industry. Whilst subject to artistic licence, the film ‘Hidden Figures (2016)‘ goes to show the immense role of female programmers and overcoming horrible racial inequality. It just goes to show that women belong in technology as much as men. There are exciting opportunities out there for women in technology.
I really don’t think the DfE needed to spend so much as £2.4m on research into exploring factors that determine gender balance in computing. We don’t necessarily need to spend money on fancy computers either. What is important in my view is not just some research but bold enthusiasm too.
Times are gradually changing. The balance will shift, but anything we can do to shimmy it along in the interests of achieving parity sooner has got to be worthwhile.
