The Disturbing Trend of a Lack of Women in the Computer Science Industry

Every so often, it is interesting to look at trends in your industry as a whole.  For us, that means examining the inner workings of computer science and examining trends both good and bad.

Lately, there has been an unfavorable development regarding tech communities: women just aren’t a part of it anymore. Well, we mean they’re still here, just in far lower numbers than we have seen in previous years.

Although women have played a prominent role in the industry for years, it just seems like they’ve been drifting away. There has been a regression.

In this Digital Trends article, Lulu Chang writes, “In 1984, 40 percent of computer science majors in colleges across the U.S. were women. 50 years ago, nearly half of the programmers in the field were women. Today, only 18 percent of college grads with a computer science degree have two X chromosomes. And in the workplace, it’s even grimmer.”

Why is this the case? Well, many believe it’s due to a lack of vertical opportunities. Some women feel pushed around in the workplace, passed over on important positions and genuinely not respected according to statistics. A Stanford University study sums it up best: “Women’s quit rate in technology exceeds that of other science and engineering fields – with a full 56 percent leaving their organizations at midlevel points in their careers.”

That is not ideal and until we improve the computer science and programming workplace, these statistics won’t get any better. At Beta Breakers, we support women in the tech workplace; in fact, we support anyone, no matter who they are provided they do their job well. Shouldn’t that be the case everywhere?