Computer science majors: sex role orientation, academic achievement, and social cognitive factors

Career Development Quarterly, June, 2006 by Chris Brown, Linda S. Garavalia, Mary Lou Hines Fritts, Elizabeth A. Olson

Alternatively, we consider whether the face of computer science degree programs is changing such that the computer science field is no longer just attractive to White men, which is why we find more women enrolled in and graduating from such programs than previous data would support. Specifically, the university at which our sample was taken reported the average enrollment percentage for female computer science majors, over the four consecutive semesters that we collected data, to be 26%, which is not considerably less than the 33% composing our sample. Also noteworthy, in terms of graduation rates, is that the average percentage of male (65%) and female (35%) students who graduated from this university in the past four semesters somewhat parallels the university's male (74%) and female (26%) enrollment percentages for earlier semesters and suggests that slightly more than a third of the university's computer science graduates over a four-semester span are women.

Perhaps most interesting is that our male and female computer science undergraduates were uncharacterized by a masculine orientation (noted exception being 1 participant who endorsed a masculine orientation), which we did not expect given that computer science is regarded as a male-dominated field. Perhaps the lack of instrumental traits endorsed by our computer science participants suggests that feminine traits are more important when considering the rigor of a computer science degree. Said differently, we suppose that it is likely that the nature of computer science programs requires students to cooperate with one another in order to meet deadlines and to successfully complete homework and other course-related assignments, which may result in an environment that activates expressive traits while attenuating the masculinity variable. The first and second authors of this study have recently completed computer science course work and recall that students, to a great extent, collaborated and worked in small and large groups to facilitate successful learning. These collaborative and team approach efforts, which were encouraged by the department's instructors and teaching assistants, may call for expressive traits such as helping others, understanding others, and warm relations with others.

To further support this notion, we draw upon Spence's (1984) assertion that the extent to which individuals engage in gender/sex role related behaviors may be contingent upon how important the gender/sex role related traits are in a particular context. Persons possess different schemata, which may be activated in a given situation. That is, attitudes and behaviors are likely to be gender based due to the influence or salience of gender in that situation. On the basis of these assertions, we venture to say that the nature of computer science programs, although a traditionally male-dominated field, may be a field in which feminine or expressive sex role traits are much more salient and influential than instrumental (masculine) traits. Future research that includes multiple computer science settings is needed to corroborate these findings.