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Did you know the first computer programmer ever was a woman?
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Tech is one the fastest growing sectors of the American
economy, but women continue to only represent a small portion of the
workforce. In 2012, women only made up 10 to 13 percent of graduates in
computer science and engineering. Meanwhile, across the board at nearly
all tech companies, leadership positions are dominated by men.
Kara Miller, host and executive editor of Innovation Hub at Takeaway Co-Producer WGBH, sat down with some of the country's leading ladies of tech to talk about how to break through in the industry. The change, according to Miller, needs to start at the college level by finding ways to encourage more women to pursue degrees in computer science.
“The trend overall is concerning," Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer told Miller. "I started doing computer science in college, so there are some people, but it's late. And you feel late, and you feel like you're playing catch up."
Deborah Spar, the president of Barnard College, is on the front-lines of trying to address this gender disparity.
"We may need to think about how we teach computer science—not that we're dumbing it down—but are there ways to teach it so that it might be more amenable to women?" Spar told Miller. "Should we rethink computer science and treat it as a science the same way we treat chemistry and biology, where we have lots of women? Should we think of it as a language as we think of French and Italian?"
Kara Miller, host and executive editor of Innovation Hub at Takeaway Co-Producer WGBH, sat down with some of the country's leading ladies of tech to talk about how to break through in the industry. The change, according to Miller, needs to start at the college level by finding ways to encourage more women to pursue degrees in computer science.
“The trend overall is concerning," Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer told Miller. "I started doing computer science in college, so there are some people, but it's late. And you feel late, and you feel like you're playing catch up."
Deborah Spar, the president of Barnard College, is on the front-lines of trying to address this gender disparity.
"We may need to think about how we teach computer science—not that we're dumbing it down—but are there ways to teach it so that it might be more amenable to women?" Spar told Miller. "Should we rethink computer science and treat it as a science the same way we treat chemistry and biology, where we have lots of women? Should we think of it as a language as we think of French and Italian?"
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