DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
  1. DZone
  2. Culture and Methodologies
  3. Career Development
  4. Programming: Initially a Female Profession

Programming: Initially a Female Profession

Axel Rauschmayer user avatar by
Axel Rauschmayer
·
Jul. 16, 12 · Interview
Like (0)
Save
Tweet
Share
4.92K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free
In the 1940s, the first computer programmers were all women. That only changed later. Quoting “Researcher reveals how ‘Computer Geeks’ replaced ‘Computer Girls’” by Brenda D. Frink for the Clayman Institute for Gender Research:

managers hired women because they expected programming to be a low-skill clerical function, akin to filing, typing, or telephone switching. Assuming that the real “brain work” in electronic computing would be limited to the hardware side, managers reserved these tasks for male engineers.
[...]
As the intellectual challenge of writing efficient code became apparent, employers began to train men as computer programmers. Rather than equating programming with clerical work, employers now compared it to male-stereotyped activities such as chess-playing or mathematics.

Then, in the late 1960s, a series of activities was set in motion that tended to exclude women: all-male professional associations etc. Today, the stereotypes created back then still have an effect:

Today, we continue to assume that the programmers are largely anti-social and that anti-socialness is a male trait. As long as these assumptions persist [...] the programming workforce will continue to be male-dominated.

Back when I was taught at university, I noticed the effect of those stereotypes: There are many more women in degrees such as “Bio-Informatics” and “Media Informatics”, presumably because they are considered more interesting and as existing in a less anti-social environment. However, students often end up taking an “Informatics-only” job, and are just as qualified as “pure” Informaticians: The latter have usually studied a bit more Math and core computer topics, the former have other useful skills, but they are all capable programmers. Moreover, because you have some freedom regarding what you want to focus on during your studies, the boundaries between the variants of Informatics are blurred, anyway.
Programmer (hardware) Computer career Engineer Task (computing) Typing Trait (computer programming) Computing

Published at DZone with permission of Axel Rauschmayer, DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • ChatGPT — The Google Killer? The Job Taker? Or Just a Fancy Chatbot?
  • Too Many Tools? Streamline Your Stack With AIOps
  • Automated Performance Testing With ArgoCD and Iter8
  • API Design Patterns Review

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: