Vivian A. Lagesen The Norwegian University of Science and Technology

1. WeLead conference Trondheim June 2016The making of positive circles: Inclusion of women to computer science. Vivian A. Lagesen The Norwegian University of Science and Technology

2. ”It is easier to put man on the moon than to get women to enter computer professions” (Wendy Hall, Former president of the British Computer Society)

3. Sources EU study 2003-2005 SIGIS (Strategies of inclusion: Gender in the information society) 20 Researchers 48 case studies about across five European countries: UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy and Norway InterviewstudyofMalaysian (and Norwegian) women computer science students and faculty Interviewstudyof men and womensoftwareengineers in threecompanies in threeplaces: Silicon Valley, Malaysia and Norway Studyofinclusioninitiatives at NTNU

4. Four arguments • Inclusion strategies should be designed on the basis of inclusion thinking rather than exclusion thinking • The most efficient inclusion strategies is to those who manage to make positive circles • Quantity and quality are important inclusion instruments • Avoid gender stereotypes when designing inclusion strategies

5. Whatare inclusion strategies? Activities aimed to recruit people into, and /or retain and socialize them within some system How may we best design for inclusion?

6. Research on CS – an exclusion perspective • Shaped by policy concerns • A predominant focus on exclusion • Deficit models • Deficits in women • Deficits in educational practices of CS • Deficits in the culture and image of CS • The hacker or geek mythology • The boys room competence

7. Exclusion narratives • The Matilda-effect (Rossiter 1993)  Negative circles of exclusion Inclusion = removing phenomena that produce exclusion; cultures, norms, ideologies, practices, symbols, interests, motivation, networks, etc..

8. Inclusion narratives • Men, science and technology (Oldenziel 1999, Mellström 1995, Hacker 1989, Kleif and Faulkner 2003)  Positive circles of inclusion – producing cultures, norms, ideologies, practices, symbols, interests, motivation, networks, etc..

9. What may we learn from the Malaysian case?

10. University of Malaya • All Heads of Departments were women • The Dean was a woman

11. Universityof Malaya (Source: Othman and Latih 2006, March 2006/Vol. 49, No. 3, COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM )

12. What was it that attracted women to CS in Malaysia?Enthusiasm V: So, why did you choose to study computer science? Salina: Because I’m very interested, actually since I was in sixth grade, I used to sit and tell my mum: ‘I am going to be a system analyst or I’m going to be someone who is an expert in computers’. V: What interests you about it? Salina: Maybe because computer did something … it’s a machine and then …we have to operate that … I don’t know … I just like it very much!! (laughing) (Salina, master student, UM)

13. Instrumental interest (prospects) “Also, I think this is a very good subject, a very wide range. After I finished this course, I’m sure that I can get something. I mean, it’s a job for me...” (Maimunuah, bachelor student)

14. Parental encouragement “Actually, computer science is not my main interest, it’s my dad’s main interest, you see (laughing). Actually, because, I was very, very interested in chemical engineering. But then I was having some skin problems, so my dad kind of talked me out of it (…). So, my dad kind of … should I say ‘brainwashed’, talked me into it, saying that this is computer era, whatever … So, okay, since it is a new thing, why not give it a try?” (Wanda , first year student)

15. Governmental encouragement It is because of my father’s advice. Because during that time period it was, that was in early in 1990s … if I am not mistaken that was in 1993, when the government start to urge Malaysian people to study IT. And that’s what made my father advised me to do so, choose this field, especially IT. So I just follow this advice, and I am quite satisfied in this field. I want to be a professional in computing, on IT and computer related fields. (Supryia, master student)

16. Different gendered notion of CS “I never thought of computer science as a masculine subject (...) You know, engineering is something that people see as masculine, or geology. But not computer science? I don’t see what is masculine about computer science?” (Dr. Mazliza, Head of Department)

17. A feminine CS? Maimunah: You can say that computer science … this computer science course is meant to be for women instead of guys. I mean, guys usually go for engineering, architecture, contractors, that kind of jobs. V: Why? Azizah: Out. Because it is out, not in the office, they’re doing outside. Maimunah: They get exposed a lot. Azizah: Exposed, yeah. More dangerous. Maimunah: Except for us, for girls, they expect us to stay in the office, to do that kind of work. (Maimunah and Azizah, bachelor students)

18. «Mum use computer for fun, Dad just use it if he needs to» • Wanda: (laughing) The funny thing about the computer is, that me and my mother we will race to the computer and we play games. Because she is in her fifties you see, so you know, women in this age they can … hardly get sleep, you see. So, sometimes she will sit up at night just to play computer games. • V: What about your father? • (…) My father used to use the computer quite a lot when he was teaching, because he has to print out those exam papers, but then since my parents has retired, he really…he can hardly touch the computer actually (…) he doesn’t don’t like it, he just doesn’t need to use it, you see. • V: So he doesn’t use it for fun like your mum? • Wanda: My dad likes playing golf, you see, he likes outdoor-activities. While my mum is a really an in-door person. (…) She prefer something in-door, like making cakes, baking, computers … all those in -door stuff. • (Wanda, bachelor student in CS)

19. Gendering of CS • Gendering had to be provoked and was hesitant • Computer science constructed as a discipline well suited for women, not as a masculine recluse • Computer science was a women-friendly space • Lack of a notions of hackers or geeks • Lack of experience or previous knowledge could be amended by hard (and smart) work

20. The positive circle of inclusion of women to CS in Malaysia Governmental encouragement Positive circle of inclusion Parental encouragement Many women In CS Lack of gendered stereotypes associated to CS Enthusiasm about computers Perception of CS as a good career choice

21. Deficit thinking Few women in CS Few women apply Chilly culture for women Circle of exclusion Women lack interest in CS Hacker or geek culture that alienates women Women lack previous experience Gender-insensitive teaching

22. How to make positive circles? • Positive circles need to consist of several inclusion efforts or mechanisms that work together. • Preferably, they meet as many as possible of these inclusion needs: • access: e.g., admission criteria, quotas, outreach • motivation: e.g., career options, professional interest • capability/empowerment: e.g., role models, confidence • support: e.g., community building, gender-reflexive teaching • Inclusion efforts should aim to provide attractions, deficits are less useful to make effective remedies

23. Example: The Women and Computing Initiative (WCI) at NTNU Outreach to high schools Women students continue A quota for women Positive circle of inclusion Women’s Day Social activities for women More women students Resources for community building

24. 3. Quantity as an inclusion instrument: The strength of numbers The quota represented the most radical and direct instrument for increasing the number of women in the programme, with very positive effects: • Creating a peer-supportive an non-marginalised community among women • The gender mix created a better culture • Influence the symbolic interpretation of computer science to make it more ‘transgender’

25. Quantity and Quality as important inclusion instruments • Quantity • Have a dual property: • How we measure the outcome of an initiative • Numbers are at the very heart of the way inclusion initiatives may work • Quality • improving quality is a point of departure or developing inclusion strategies (e.g., computer games) • Improving quality is likely to benefit especially those who belong to a minority or are on the margins

26. 4. The pitfall of gender stereotypes.. «Women make circles and men make squares. The universitieswants more computer science students that makes circles.»

27. Who do you think will get the job of making a system that makes everyday life easier for patients and doctors?

28. Why avoid gender stereotyping • Because it does not work well • For political and long-term reasons: it contributes to conserve gender binaries rather than transgressing them • Better alternatives: target spesific sub-groups of women • Knowledge is an important anti-dote to stereotyping

29. Lessons learned • Inclusion strategies should be designed on the basis of inclusion thinking rather than exclusion thinking • The most efficient inclusion strategies is to those who manage to make positive circles • Avoid gender stereotypes when designing inclusion strategies • Quantity and quality are important inclusion instruments

30. Questions?

31. Sources Lagesen, Vivian Anette. (2015) Gender and Technology: From Exclusion to Inclusion?. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Edition. 2nd edition, Vol 9. Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 723–728. Lagesen, V. A (2011): Getting women into computer science. In Faulkner, W., Rommes E. and K. H. Sørensen: Technologies of inclusion: Gender in the Information Society, Trondheim: Tapir Akademiske. Lagesen, V. A. (2008): A cyber feminist utopia? Perceptions of gender and computer science among Malaysian women computer science students and faculty. Science, Technology and Human Values 33 (1): 5-27 Lagesen, V. A. (2007): The strength of numbers. Getting women into computer science. Social Studies of Science, 37 (1): 67-92 Lagesen, Vivian Anette. (2006) The woman problem in computer science. Encyclopedia of gender and information technology. Lagesen, V. A. (2005) Extreme make-over? The making of gender and computer science. 2005. PhD dissertation, STS-report 71. Trondheim: NTNU.