Attracting women to the CS major

Tillberg and Cohoon focus on an undergraduate student demographic in their analysis of focus group data from institutions across the US to explore women’s overall under-representation in undergraduate computer science programs nationally. Most of the participating students initially felt attracted to computing by the positive introductions they got from parents, teachers, courses, work, and play; by a perceived match between the requirements of the discipline and their own abilities and interests; and by their expectations of rewarding careers that offer flexibility and interaction with other people.