IT’s geeky image keeping women away

Inaccurate but persistent stereotypes are keeping many women from joining the computer science field, a survey shows. But IT’s famous gender imbalance could be addressed at the source if these misconceptions are challenged.

A study led by University of Washington psychologist Sapna Cheryan suggests that tertiary students who are not computer science majors believe computer scientists to be intelligent but lacking in social skills.

Computer scientists are also perceived as liking science fiction, spending hours playing video games and at the extreme end, as being pale from spending too long indoors and having poor hygiene.

“We were surprised to see the extent to which students were willing to say stereotypical things, and give us very specific descriptions. One student said computer science majors play ‘World of Warcraft’ all day long. And that’s a very specific, and inaccurate, thing to say about a very large group of people,” Cheryan said.

The media is particularly culpable in keeping the ‘geeky male nerd’ stereotype alive, the study suggests, citing the example of popular sitcom Big Bang Theory.

This stereotype is “inconsistent with the female gender role [as well as] how many women see themselves and how they want others to see them”, Cheryan said.

But women who had taken at least one computer science class were less likely to believe these stereotypes - as opposed to men, who stuck to their preconceptions regardless.

In a second study, male and female students were given fabricated newspaper articles either challenging or reconfirming these stereotypes.

Women who read the non-stereotypical article were significantly more interested in majoring in computer science than those who read the article with gendered stereotypes. But males were unaffected by either article.

Cheryan said this research proves that it doesn’t take much to challenge these stereotypes and improve females’ perceptions of the field.

“Our message is not that the people in computer science need to change. It’s a marketing issue,” she said. “If we could expose students to what computer scientists are really like and all the varied and interesting things they do, we can have a positive effect on participation in the field.”