Why do Software Jobs Have so few Females?

Today, when most software developers (aka coders) are men, it’s hard to imagine an era when most coders were women. But that was how it started, writes Clive Thompson in his terrific book, Coders:

“(In the 60’s), the sexy, high glory part of the job was regarded as building the hardware.”

And so things were until the personal computer (PC) was invented in the 80’s. With the PC, boys got exposure to computers early whereas girls didn’t (yes, we are talking of the West). Guess what was the first thing said (boy) teenagers wrote software for? Video games. And who plays video games? Boys, rarely girls:

“It began to make coding culture… even more male.”

 

Next, as offices started to see the possible use of PC’s, they found themselves in a position where hardly anyone knew anything, and everyone had to be trained on the job. Guess who was at an advantage at this point? Those who had some exposure to PC’s already. In other words, those boys who’d been creating games and in general, been experimenting with PC’s without “adult supervision”.

 

As the job opportunities increased, colleges found themselves without staff who could teach. Those in academia who did know computers found it lucrative to go work for industry. And with such a mismatch in both quantity and quality of computer science teachers at college, college kids were left to fend for themselves. No wonder, those boys with all that prior exposure did better. Which in turn led to the wrong conclusion that boys were wired for this job, that they were inherently better at it. The last nail in the coffin for women?

“The economics of coding were becoming far more lucrative.”

And that is how coding moved from female-only to overwhelmingly-male today.

 

But if you’re like me, from India, something about this narrative doesn’t sound right. There are a lot more girls in Computer Science courses than other branches of engineering. There are a lot more girls at entry level coding jobs in India than in the West. So is the entire narrative above only true for the West? Thompson digs into that too. And he writes:

“In India, over 40% of the students studying computer science are women. And this is despite it being even harder to be a female coder there; India has rigid gender roles (unsafe, hence self-imposed curfews for women etc).”

So what’s going on in India?

“The women (in India) had one big cultural advantage over their US peers… They were far more likely to be encouraged by their parents to get into the field… (When at home) The Indian (female) coders reported much more equivalent treatment when girls… compared to the majority of girls in the US who watched their fathers shower their brothers with nerd attention.”

Which is why Thompson wraps up the topic by writing:

“It’s not biology. It’s culture.”