Frances Bailie

Women who make a difference: role models for the 21 st century

Although the need for highly skilled workers in the field of computing is on the rise, many companies report difficulties in recruiting qualified workers in this area. Looking to the future, the U.S. Department of Labor projects an increase of 17.7% in all computerrelated careers over the next ten years, with information security analysts and software developers projected to increase at 36% and 23% respectively [33], as shown in Figure 1. The question arises as to who will successfully fill these projected positions. Since women make up about half the workforce, one might assume that women will fill half of these positions; but if we look at the prospects this appears to be an unlikely conclusion. According to the National Center for Education Statistics [24], there has been a steady decline in the percentage of bachelor’s degrees in computer science awarded to women, with a high of 37% in 1983-1984 down to 17.6% in 2010-2011. The number of degrees awarded to women decreased 20% from 2000-2001 to 2005-2006 and 22.3% from 20052006 to 2010-2011. The number of master’s degrees and doctorates in computer science has, however, increased steadily from 1970-1971 to 2010-2011.