Woman Programmers Debugged

Woman Programmers Debugged

In the article “How to be a Woman Programmer,” Ellen Ullman talked about her experiences as a woman in the computer programming field. She said there were not many women in the field. She also said that women in programming were being sexually harassed and not given the same opportunities as men. After reading her article, I wanted to find out if these things were true and, if so, what was being done about them. So, I took a survey of seven female programmers working at Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) and studied other statistical resources. My research shows women are getting very few of the computer science bachelor’s degrees, women are being sexually harassed in the computer science field, and women are

In her article “How to be a Woman Programmer,” Ellen Ullman said, “I endured a client--a sweaty man with pendulous earlobes--who stroked my back as I worked to fix his system. At that moment I expected him to snap my bra.” She also described a man that kept interrupting her in a meeting saying, “Gee, you sure have pretty hair” (Ullman, 727). Although, obviously, some male employers in the field want to know if their employee male or female can do their job well and they will hire them based on that, according to a Computerworld interview, “We found that 63% of women in science, engineering and technology have experienced sexual harassment“ (Melymuka, K.). However, out of the seven women I surveyed at GRU, only one said that she was harassed. Deborah said, “Sexual harassment was common in the beginning and, depending on the boss at the time, was often overlooked.” The rest of the women programmers at GRU said they did not experience it. Yet, even though there is only a limited percentage of women programmers at GRU getting harassed, it is still a big problem in the field of computer science that needs to change.

Third, women are given less opportunities in the computer field. Three of the women I surveyed from GRU had experienced this gender bias. Deborah

There are people trying to fix these issues in the computer science field. For example, Harvey Mudd started “team-based projects so students coded together” in the introductory computer courses rather than “traditional homework.” This reduced the isolation some female computer students suffered. After introducing these courses in 2007, within four years the number of “female students majoring in computer science” increased from 10 percent to 40 percent. They have “continued to average 40 percent since 2011” (Klawe, M.). When it comes to women getting less opportunities than men, I realize that men need to consider about how it is affecting the woman they are working with and how they would feel if they were in the women 's position. Katandra at GRU said, “Women need more training and more confidence. Women need to be encouraged by their managers or supervisors to take on different tasks that will elevate their means of success.” Also, employers should take more time to investigate a person’s abilities, instead of listening to their “boasting” of their abilities. When it comes to sexual harassment, there have been laws and training put in place to help prevent sexual harassment in the computer field. They are putting these into action to protect women and attempting to make it a more gender neutral atmosphere for