Chapter 4: Maternal Perspectives On Getting A Degree In Computer Science: Does Class Trump Race?

Despite successes in some science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields in equalizing representation for women, the field of computer science has remained doggedly inequitable. When we look at bachelor’s degree recipients, we find that not only do women lag behind men, but that there has actually been a decline in the proportion of women bachelor’s degree recipients in the past two decades (National Science Foundation, 2008). Much research has been done on the barriers to women in computer science (for a review, see Cohoon& Aspray, 2006), but researchers have for the most part neglected to explore how the intersection of race, class, and culture may influence women’s choices to major in computer science. The numbers suggest that this perspective may be important, as the ratio of females to males is higher for each non-White ethnic group than for Whites in bachelor’s degree recipients (National Science Foundation, 2008).