Women And Men Are Both Equally Great Programmers And History Backs This Up

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Society thinks that men are better at programming than women because they see more men than women sitting in chairs of programmers profession. Well, that is not the case at all. Men are not better at programming than women, just because they are men or whatever. Men are not better at programming than women. – this is where the sentence ends. The reasons, though, why we see more men doing it, are a lot. Today we are going to dive into this topic and illuminate you with the needed information in order to understand better what happens regarding it. Stay tuned for more!

As a matter of fact, it is women, not men, in computing, that have shaped the evolution of the industry. Women are among the first programmers during the early 20th century. Nevertheless, much-recorded history of the field downplayed women’s achievements. The first modern computer created by Charles Babbage is the Analytical Engine. And the first person to publish an algorithm intended to be executed by Analytical Engine is Ada Lovelace. That is why she is also the first person to be regarded as the first computer programmer.

Meanwhile, the first person to create a compiler for a programming language and one of the first programmers of the Mark Icomputer, an electro-mechanical computer based on Analytical Engine, was a woman again; named Grace Hopper. In 1994, the regular working programmers of the ENIAC computer were six females mathematicians. The teacher and trainer of the six original programmers of the ENIAC computer was a woman again; named Adele Goldstine. We could continue listing history facts which reveal the truth behind women’s’ abilities to program, but we assume you are asking yourself then why, why aren’t there more women pursuing computer sciences?

Understanding that the root of the problem starts at an early age is essential in rectifying it. A recent reportage by The Journal says that two-thirds of elementary-aged children indicate an interest in science. But the percentage of interested girls falls dramatically as they enter middle school. By high school, many girls who previously took advanced scientific courses drop their studies. Compared to boys, in secondary school, less emphasis is placed on developing girls’ computer science skills. Unfortunately, as we can see, this has a lot to do with societies’ mindset of treating this profession based on gender roles which damage all of us as a whole.

Women who go on to study STEM-related topics in college often report afterward that they feel lagging male counterparts, due to a dearth of attention at the high school level. Moreover, women students lack relatable role models for inspiration, since many leaders in the fields are men. And, as we know the historic marketing and perception of scientific fields have catered largely to male students. This definitely harmed and prevented an even better development of programming issues.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the 1984-1985 academic year women accounted for nearly 37% of all computer science undergraduate students. As the widespread use of home computers became more common, this number dropped even more! Men were far more likely to use a home computer. And not only that. They were also more likely to use it for more hours per week compared to women. These facts get backed up by a 1985 report, which says only 27% of men reported not using a computer on a weekly basis, compared to 55% of females surveyed. By the mid-nineties, the percentage of women studying computer science at the postsecondary level had fallen to 28%; and the percentage of women working in computer science-related professions, in the last 15 years, has dropped from 35% to 25%.

(facts source: computerscience)

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This massive technological development has impacted our lives beyond explanation. I don’t think we can imagine anymore how people led their lives before our modern world. The environment we live in has become even smaller as a direct result of the use of technology in our daily lives. If everyone could have a basic understanding of programming, I believe it would help the world change and improve the life of mass. If women and men would equally have the opportunity to make efforts in this field, then we could diversify our input in how we program. And it’s undeniable that contributing ideas from both genders would result to diversify the outputs, too; which would affect the way how we protect the environment, how we improve our health, social & economic environment, and so much more.

Everyone should have the same opportunities to be allowed to learn what they want to and be encouraged to do so, no matter their differences based on gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity or whatsoever. Only if we come together as a whole to make this world a better planet, we will make it so. Diversity should be considered not as a downside as it was perceived until not long ago; but as humans’ advantage, because it is indeed so.