As Computer Field Expands, College Women Shrink From It

Despite the lucrative opportunities in the computer industry, the number of women studying computer science has fallen dramatically nationwide over the past decade, causing concern among educators who say women are underrepresented in a field that is rapidly growing.

More than 100,000 jobs--ranging from software design to computer consulting--remain unfilled in the technology job market nationwide, said Mike Pazzani, chairman of UC Irvine’s department of information and computer science.

And an estimated 1 million computer-related jobs will be created over the next 10 years.

“Job opportunities have been booming in the past two years and the Internet is really responsible for that,” Pazzani said. “But there is still a trend of females being turned off by the sciences, especially computer science.”

A recent study from the National Science Foundation showed that the number of women earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science has fallen by 51%, from 14,431 in 1985 to 7,063 in 1995.

At the same time, the overall number of women entering the sciences has risen by 12%.

Educators believe the decline in female computer science majors stems from high schools falling behind in providing computer programming courses.

Even in Saddleback Valley Unified School District, which is well-equipped with state-of-the-art computers, only a smattering of computer programming courses are offered. Like most other districts, Saddleback schools mainly offer only word processing and computer applications courses.

Finding knowledgeable teachers is one of the biggest obstacles in providing computer science at the high school level, school administrators said. Computer experts tend to be quickly scooped up by the business sector. In addition, providing the training and technical equipment and support to upgrade school technology can be costly, said Saddleback Valley Unified technology specialist Norm Nelville.

“It’s expensive to build an infrastructure for computers in schools,” Nelville said. “And it’s hard to find highly computer literate teachers.”

Some schools offer advanced placement computer science courses that cover computer programming and analysis. But even those courses quickly become outdated with the rapid developments in technology.

“It’s tough keeping up with the changes,” said Wade Curry, the director of advanced placement programs for the College Board, based in New York.

And while AP tests and courses continue to gain rapid popularity among high school students, the numbers in AP computer sciences have been steady.

The overall rate of students taking tests in the 19 subject areas has grown by 8%, while AP computer science has inched up just 2% among all students.

To attract more women in this field, educators say, interest in computers must be promoted at the high school level.

“Even more worrisome is that the interest in computers for girls is plummeting,” said Smith College computer science professor Joseph O’Rourke, who also has collected data on the status of women in computer science. “This forebodes an even larger decrease in the future.”

In recent years, UCI has had considerable gains in recruiting female computer science students as a result of aggressive advertising, Pazzani said. And starting this year, it is inviting local elementary to high school students to explore its computer science department.

Exposing young students to computer-related careers--such as film animation, computer graphics and software design--will help reverse this declining trend among women, educators believe. But students with minimal or no computer course work before college can still do well, they added.

“There’s a misconception among females that if you haven’t been playing computer games all through high school, then you’re behind,” said UCI computer science professor Sandy Irani. “But that’s not the case. Our freshmen courses start at square one. We don’t assume students have any knowledge or background in computers. But we do expect them to be smart and able to pick things up quickly.”

That was the case of Miriam Raphael, a UCI senior majoring in computer science. Raphael entered college wanting to study film. But when a major studio told her a computer science degree would be to her advantage, she promptly switched majors.

And after her first course in computer programming, she abandoned the idea of filmmaking. Next year, she plans to pursue a specialized master’s degree in biology using computers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

“I love computer science because it’s so much fun,” said Raphael, 21. “They give you a problem and you have to solve it. I can’t think of any field you wouldn’t be able to use computers.”

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Women comprise only about one in five information/computer science majors at UCI, down from one in four in 1992. Fall enrollments, including undergraduate and graduate programs:

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Year Total Women 1992 700 178 25.4% 1993 688 172 25.0 1994 697 165 23.7 1995 771 160 20.8 1996 884 165 18.9% 1997 878 173 19.7

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Source: UCI Office of Analytical Studies; Researched by TINA NGUYEN / Los Angeles Times