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Gender Differences in Computer Science Departments

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Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies

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Synonyms

Computer science; Computer science departments; Gender differences; Gender representation; Performance; Preferences

Introduction

Women got involved with computer science (CS) literally from the moment of the creation of the scientific discipline and have passionately programmed computers for many decades. As far back as 1843, Ada Lovelace wrote programs on Charles Babbage’s mechanical computer. In 1946, six women mathematicians, known also as human “computers” created working programs for the ENIAC computer during the Second World War. In the 1950s, the pioneering generation of CS featured a surprising number of prominent women who led research teams, defined computer languages, and even pioneered the history of CS. One of the first programmers, Grace Murray Hopper, played a key role in creating COBOL and standardizing FORTRAN, even named as the Data Processing Management Association’s first “man of the year” in 1971 (Misa 2011).

In the 1960s, women entered the emerging CS...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece

    Maria Kordaki & Ioannis Berdousis

Authors
  1. Maria Kordaki
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  2. Ioannis Berdousis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Kordaki .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Victoria University , Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Arthur Tatnall

Section Editor information

  1. Business Information Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Bill Davey

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Kordaki, M., Berdousis, I. (2019). Gender Differences in Computer Science Departments. In: Tatnall, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60013-0_184-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60013-0_184-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-60013-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-60013-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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