Graduation Year
2017
Date of Submission
12-2016
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Economics
Reader 1
Manfred Keil
Reader 2
Serkan Ozbeklik
Rights Information
© 2016 Eliana Keinan
Abstract
Though women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has greatly increased over the past 60 years, women’s participation in computer science peaked in the 1980s. The paper searches for key motivators for women entering computer science at the peak in order to isolate factors for the subsequent steep decline. A major finding of the paper is that having a computer at home is (weakly) statistically significant as a determinant for female students choosing to pursue computer science. This relationship is insignificant for students in other STEM and non-STEM fields. A final section of the paper examines employment in computing. There is some support to suggest that early exposure to computing is correlated with individuals, both male and female, subsequently using a computer at work.
Recommended Citation
Keinan, Eliana, "A New Frontier: But for Whom? An Analysis of the Micro-Computer and Women’s Declining Participation in Computer Science" (2017). CMC Senior Theses. 1466.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1466
