| This study examined female undergraduate computer science students' experiences at a public university in the northwestern United States during 1980-1987. Its objective was to identify barriers that contributed to the underrepresentation of women in this program. My experience, as an undergraduate and graduate computer science student at this university, made me aware of the formidable barriers to women's success and continuance in this academic field. To uncover these barriers, three separate sources of information were analyzed: (a) interviews with 22 women, (b) 12,333 individual enrollment and achievement records in computer science courses, and (c) the pertinent literature from relevant fields--computer science, mathematics, engineering, and science.;An amalgamation of feminist methodology and grounded theory guided the design of the study and the analysis of the data.;The analysis of the interviews and the literature brought to light multiple barriers. These barriers were organized into two major categories: (a) the barriers resulting from the overrepresentation of men and (b) those stemming from women's direct interaction with the computer science environment.;The analysis of the enrollment and achievement data revealed that women received proportionately more A's than men in five of the eight required computer science courses and proportionately more satisfactory grades--A's and B's, needed for continuance in the program--in seven of them. However, despite their academic success, women dropped out of the program proportionately more often than men. They comprised 30.68% of student enrollment in the beginning required computer science course (CIS 201) and 23.22% in the last required course (CIS 423). The ratio women:men changed from 1:3.26 to 1:4.31.;The results of this study suggest that the underrepresentation of women in undergraduate computer science is not related to any deficiency innate in them. Probably, it originates in enculturing and socializing forces that cause women and men to perceive women less able than men to study computer science. Most likely, it is perpetuated by the isolating, foreign, and alienating nature of the computer science environment itself. The women who succeed do so at great personal cost and sacrifice. |
