How desperate does a profession have to be to seize Barbie as a role model?
Well, that’s what female computer engineers, whose ranks have been diminishing in the last two decades, did to drum up support for their field. When Mattel Inc., Barbie’s maker, allowed the public to vote on the doll’s next career, female computer engineers stuffed the ballot box, according to a page one story Friday in the Wall Street Journal.
The women hoped the doll would raise the profile of their chosen career, get more girls interested in the profession and help spruce up their image as nerds.
If you want further proof that computer engineering, one of the fastest growing professions, is not attracting girls, check this out: Last year, 67% of all boys rated computer science as a “very good” or “good” career choice, but only 9% of girls rated it “very good” and 17% as “good,” according a report by New Image for Computing, an initiative to improve the image of computer science and increase participation in the field after high school.
The question that remains is why are girls not attracted to this field. “There is so little visibility of engineers in our culture and when you do see them they are male,” says Betty Shanahan, executive director of the Society of Women Engineers.
Twenty years ago, women were awarded twice as many computer science degrees as they were in 2008. Of course, there are more fields open to women today. But that only explains part of the reason this well-paid, fast-growing field is losing women.
“Though we can’t be certain of the cause of the decline, research suggests several likely possibilities,” says Catherine Ashcraft, senior research scientist at the National Center for Women & Information Technology at the University of Colorado. “Many of these are related to the image of computer science and the lack of female role models and mentors. Girls get subtle messages from all sorts of places — the media, popular culture, parents, teachers, school counselors, other authority figures — that computer science isn’t really ‘something girls do.’”
With girls, the value of working with others is often emphasized, and Ms. Ashcraft said “this rather inaccurate perception that computing is necessarily isolating work or that it involves sitting at your computer alone all day” might not appeal to female students.
Other research suggests that young people in general, and especially girls, often don’t know exactly what a computer-science career entails. “They have a much clearer image of what it means to be a doctor or a lawyer, for example,” Ms. Ashcraft said.
“There are also several key barriers or reasons women leave computing careers once they have begun them,” she said. “These include lack of mentors or role models, as well as additional factors such as unconscious biases in the workplace that affect task assignment, performance evaluation and promotion and official or unofficial policies that make it difficult to balance competing life responsibilities or maintain flexible work schedules.”
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