By Sowmya Krishna, Appmaster

I walk into my App Development class and scan the room, disappointed. Apart from me, there is only one other girl in the class out of approximately 20 students. But this isn’t just a one-time situation. According to The U.S. National Science Foundation, only 20% of computer science undergraduates are women, and specifically, over the past four years, I’ve noticed the severe lack of girls in computer science at Conestoga. As computer science is a field that is a driving force of technological innovation, it is necessary that women gain equal standing and that TESD contributes to that mission.

According to Allison Master, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Houston, and colleagues, the disparity starts early. In a 2021 study, she found that as early as 6, young girls believed in stereotypes surrounding the idea that girls are generally less inclined toward computer science than boys. This ultimately lowered their overall sense of belonging in the field, leading them to stray away from pursuing it. Additionally, the underrepresentation of girls in computer science is a major contributing factor to this disparity, as girls often shy away from computer science classes at school because of the expectation that it will be male-dominated. A study by Lei Cheng, a psychology researcher at Beijing Normal University, showed this by discovering that if girls believed that other girls were not present in the field, they were much less likely to pursue computer science in high school and college.

So, what can TESD do to bridge this divide?

Due to the young age that stereotypes regarding girls in computer science begin, early intervention to promote girls in computer science is necessary to ensure that they are encouraged to enter the field. These types of intervention efforts are not prevalent in TESD schools, and to uphold the district’s reputation for equity in education, this must change.

Much can be done to incorporate these efforts into early education. Elementary/middle schools can initiate after-school programs for girls to introduce them to basic coding concepts through visual platforms such as Scratch, and later, even text-based programming. Additionally, elementary/middle school teachers should be trained to not unknowingly enforce gender-based bias in technological content. They could incorporate influential women in technology as a part of their curricula and also make it a point to include girls in technology-based discussions. If girls develop interest in computer science at a young age, they are more likely to continue pursuing it in high school, which in turn encourages their female peers to also give the subject a chance.

Many may claim that girls are just naturally less interested in computer science than boys, and that if they wish to take them, Conestoga computer science classes are always accessible. But there lies a fault in that idea. It is not that girls are less interested in computer science  — instead, they are not given the equitable means to take interest in it. If they are given these means early on, they will confidently be able to pursue a career in the field they desire, ensuring true equity in the influential field of computer science.

Sowmya Krishna can be reached at [email protected].