Why getting women into computer science is a big deal

This year, I started helping out with an organization called Girls Who Code. Their mission is to give young women “the skills and resources to pursue opportunities in computing fields.” I think this is a tremendously important cause—not because it’s good for the young women, but because it’s good for all of us.

I recently described the ability to write code as modern-day wizardry, because more and more of the objects around us are running software. Last week, a touchscreen computer dispensed my soda at Five Guys. A few days before that, my television suddenly crashed and restarted itself. Wearable computing (such as Google Glass) won’t be an anomaly much longer. And so on… the trend is clear.

Unfortunately, the community of people who are able to program these devices—to control the objects of our world—remains overwhelmingly male. This leads to a few specific problems:

1. We’re missing a huge group of talented people.
2. Social and cultural maturity in the field of computing lags behind much of the rest of society. I’ve seen plenty of this first-hand. It’s sort of the tech-world equivalent to the sports locker room. (Of course, this isn’t true everywhere, or of everyone.)
3. We’re less likely to see solutions for gender discrimination and gender-specific suffering through technology.
4. Today’s thriving startup culture is built, in large part, by hacker-founders. You can’t be a hacker-founder if you’re not a hacker.

Therefore, the work to design, build, and test the the things that define our lives and improve the quality of life around the world, is being done by a resource-constrained, socially immature (in many cases) industry with limited visibility.

(As an example pulled from recent news, check out this trenchant post by Elizabeth Spiers about the misguided founding of a new site targeted at women.)

Sadly, we’re headed in the wrong direction. Female enrollment in computer science programs, which peaked in 1984 at nearly 40%, is down to 12%, and continues to fall.

So yeah, this is a big deal. Clearly, something needs to change. I wish I knew what it was, but maybe this is precisely the point—that I, as a man, can’t really understand the problem or come up with a solution. Maybe the best thing to do is simply to listen. Listen to the young women brave enough to wade into these waters, and take their ideas seriously. Give them support and encourage others to try doing things differently. This is exactly why I think organizations like Girls Who Code are so important.

I recognize that for some of trailblazers trying fight this trend, it may be tough. They may be choosing a tougher path through life. But thankfully for all of us, I know there are many strong-willed, intelligent, and brave girls and women out there, ready to help transform the field.

Let’s try not to let them down.