Women and Computing:
The Challenge

It may seem odd that the following brief—for a concerted effort to encourage half the human race to participate in one of the great technological movements in history—would have to be made at all. But near the end of the last century, IBM identified the need for such an effort, and here's our contribution to the cause. It was intended as an executive summary cum manifesto.

Key portions of this brief were incorporated into testimony given before a Congressional subcommittee.


OVERVIEW

The technology field is facing an imminent, dangerous shortage of workers. Just as new applications of technology are appearing at an unprecedented rate, the number of young people in the United States pursuing careers in technology (including computer design, programming, and research) is declining.

This is especially true for young women, who have never made up a representative proportion of technologists and whose rate of participation is decreasing even faster than men's.

It may be necessary to affirm the obvious here because current trends seem to have obscured the greater truth: There is simply no reason to believe that women are less-suited than men—by temperament, intelligence, or any other intrinisic quality—to meet the demands of the new technologies.

Outside the technology field itself, the influence of women in business decision-making is increasing rapidly, and common sense insists that women be represented appropriately among those who are working to provide technological solutions to business problems.

From a broader perspective, IBM has recognized that its vision of the future of computing—pervasive in everyday life as well as essential to the most profound areas of human inquiry—must take into account the needs, values, and talents of all people.

And women can and will answer the call to technology, with the right kind of encouragement.

To achieve this end, IBM has launched, partnered with, and nurtured several initiatives (both internal and external) to encourage women to enter the field (and to stay and to thrive), in order to maximize diversity within the “human component” of technology.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

THE NEW TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION

The world has undergone an enormous technological shift in the last 20 years.

• Just after World War II, one famous seer predicted that the total world market for high-speed electronic computers would be... five.

• In the beginning, mostly due to the limitations of the technology, computing demanded extreme discipline and rigid, hierarchical relationships between information providers and users.

• The 1980’s brought a radical shift in information technology. The PC put computers into the hands of millions (first in our offices and then in our homes), breaking down the old information hierarchies and offering unlimited possibilities for discovery, creativity, and relationship-building.

• Businesses, governments, and educational institutions—spurred by a commonsense impulse to integrate resources—moved quickly to link the computers (mainframe and personal) within their organizations, thus creating the concept of the computer network. Their next challenge was to enable all these small networks (as well as individual users) to communicate with one another. The answer was the Net.

Today the Internet allows affordable, relatively easy connectivity among users and their machines. Millions of people all over the world now tap into vast amounts of information, using PC’s and other access devices (40% of Internet access currently being through non-PC devices like tv’s, kiosks, cell-phones, and other small, hand-held devices).

IBM'S VISION OF THE FUTURE OF COMPUTING

When PC’s first appeared twenty years ago, they were essentially self-contained tools that enhanced the productivity and creativity of individuals working in relative solitude. Today the PC is more often a portal into an ever-changing, ever-growing community of information sharers. And just as we have begun to explore the idea of using technology to share information, IBM has determined that the era of the PC is drawing to a close, to be replaced by dramatically new approaches to computing.

Championing the theme of connectivity (as well as the just end of the isolation and inefficiencies of the personal computer), IBM believes that two concepts will guide the future of information technology: Pervasive Computing and Deep Computing.

Pervasive Computing is built on the idea that computer technology is going to migrate from our desktops to the small devices—and even the inanimate objects—of our daily lives. Many of us already use some of these devices, such as Palm Pilots and pagers. But very soon most computing devices will be so small and unobtrusive that we will think of them not as things that we sit in front of (or even hold in our hands), but rather as things we wear, like jewelry. Eventually we’re likely not to think of them at all. And just as these devices become effectively invisible to us, they will be linked together in information networks of unprecedented sophistication and power.

Examples of Pervasive Computing:

• A milk container is embedded with a microchip that communicates with your refrigerator; the refrigerator, “knowing” that the milk has run out, adds it to your shopping list.

• Your alarm clock “listens” to the weather report, “learns” that a storm’s on the way, and wakes you up a few minutes earlier than you asked it to, giving you time to search for your galoshes.

• See that farmer standing in the field holding his cell phone? He’s just gotten a call from one of his cornfields. It’s thirsty.

Deep Computing is the performing of huge numbers of complex calculations on massive amounts of data in order to solve extraordinarily difficult problems in business, government, medicine, and all major realms of our lives. Deep Computing is multi-disciplinary, highly integrated, and, above all, collaborative.

Examples of Deep Computing:

• Identifying subtle pattern shifts in human tissue in order to diagnose diseases before they appear. The technologists involved aren’t medical doctors, but they’re lifesavers nonetheless.

• Deciphering the genetic codes of plants, so that we can grow more food more efficiently and feed the world.

• Predicting weather with great precision, so that we can prepare adequately for hurricanes and floods.

• Creating elaborate computer models of nuclear stockpiles. Instead of testing weapons by actually setting them off—as we’ve had to do in the past—we can detonate them in virtual reality.

• “Decoding” the human genome and solving the essential mysteries of human life.

All in all, the new technologies will transform—in ways that even now we’ve only imagined—how we work, play, govern ourselves, raise our children, and think about our place in the universe. Fundamentally integrated and collaborative, the new technologies will adhere more closely and naturally to the traditional patterns of social interaction and community.


THE DEMAND

It’s no small task to make all the new and different information networks function together smoothly; to make all their transactions secure and reliable; and to create and maintain the systems that will be able to process the enormous amounts of data that the new networks will generate. And so all visions of the future of computer technology—IBM’s in particular—assume the need for huge numbers of new technical specialists.

• It is estimated that an additional one million information-technology workers will be needed in the U.S. alone by the year 2006.

THE PROBLEM

Just as the demand for technological expertise has mushroomed, fewer and fewer young people want to get involved. Girls are especially put off:

• Fewer than 10% of engineers are women.

• Women account for only 4% of computer scientists.

• In the 1990’s the percentage of women among computer professionals actually dropped, to less than 30% today.

• Between 1985 and 1995, the number of college freshman women interested in science and engineering careers dropped from 7% to 4%.

• While more than 80% of male students who start out in engineering stay on to graduate, fewer than 30% of women do.

• In biology, the respective figures are 40% for men and 20% for women.

• In physics, it’s an amazing 99% for men, and only 33% for women.

Why is this happening? For one thing, technology has a severe image problem: the widespread notion of the career technologist as a pale and isolated geek-nerd.

And although many people find beauty and excitement in math and science, most kids today are turned off by it—even those who are good at it. That’s probably the fault of our educational system, which fails to convey to kids the possibilities for adventure and discovery that exist within science and math.

Girls in particular have often been actively discouraged from pursuing careers in technology-related fields. Some of this is due to the perception that a technology career is likely to be chilly, obsessive, and isolating—hardly ideals traditionally associated with girls and women. And the simple fact is that technology is undeniably dominated by men, which suggests, to some, an environment intrinsically inhospitable to women.


THE SOLUTION

Is there something essential to technology that excludes women? Or are there trends in both the marketplace and in technology itself that suggest that the participation of women is, in fact, essential?

First, there is nothing intrinsic either to technology or to being a “girl” that makes the two mutually exclusive. There is some truth to the cliche of the sun-deprived, obsessive nerd devoting all his waking hours to the creation of the perfect subroutine. It is also true that the personal computer, in spite of its enormous capacity as a sophisticated problem-solving and creative tool, has too often been represented to young people as a glittering, expensive toy—the ideal home for Duke Nukem, not a place where most girls would want to hang out.

But the world of technology has always been more varied, rewarding and nurturing than these cliches would indicate, something to which the many women in technology eagerly bear witness.

What’s more, information technology is about to move from the realm of the self-conscious PC to a more unconscious, “everyday” level that permeates all aspects of individual and social existence—surely something of interest as much to girls as to boys.

Then there are the simple realities of the marketplace. Women are achieving power in the business community at an unprecedented rate:

• Women now own 8 million companies in the U.S., employing more than 18 million workers, and generating annual revenues of 2.3 trillion dollars.

• By the beginning of the 21st century, half of all businesses in the U.S. will be owned by women.

We are now at a point where no business activity can be isolated from information technology, and so no woman in business can afford to remain aloof from technology. Therefore the purveyors of information technology, in turn, must court one of their most dynamic business constituencies. It’s silly for any technology supplier to think that the needs of women in business will be well-served by excluding women from the creation of technological solutions, or that women in business will tolerate such exclusion.

Girls and young women have been discouraged from pursuing careers in technology through a combination of a misrepresentation/misunderstanding of technology and lingering stereotypes of what is appropriate “women’s work.” Encouraging women to enter the field is therefore largely a matter of educating them—and reeducating their parents and teachers—in the current realities as well as the dominant trends, which are likely to be more compatible with women’s traditional values. The increasing influence of women as consumers of technology is creating a natural demand for women as providers of technology. And the increasing tendency of technology to emphasize connection and community suggests a strengthening of values that women traditionally have found inviting and supportive.


IBM INITIATIVES

IBM staffers regularly reach out to girls and young women (K-12) to encourage them to pursue educations and careers in math, science, and technology; to university women in technology to support their career and employment choices; and to its own female technical talent pool to support their development and advancement within IBM.

Among IBM’s many support initiatives:

IBM is a major participant in National Engineer’s Week, the national outreach program designed to help increase public understanding of engineering and related technology disciplines. During the event, IBM engineers and scientists visit schools in their local communities to show children (K-12) what engineers and scientists do and to encourage them to pursue a course of study that will prepare them for technical careers. For the past two years, IBM has put an emphasis on having IBM technical women participate in National Engineer’s Week, to serve as role models for the girls and to send a message to all students that technology is not just for boys.

IBM is also a strategic partner of MentorNet, the national electronic mentoring initiative that connects women studying engineering and related sciences with mentors in industry, via e-mail. The students receive advice, insights, information, and encouragement to stay in their chosen field. This “e-mentoring” transcends the constraints of time and geography and allows technical professionals to mentor students in a convenient, informal, and efficient manner.

And in support of its own staff, in October 1998 IBM held its first internal conference for technical women, in which 500 IBM female technical leaders from 29 countries convened for a three-day conference. The conference showcased the contributions of IBM technical women; provided access to female role models both inside and outside the company; and offered IBM women the opportunity to network with their peers. As a result, the participating women learned to see their gender as a benefit and not something to be overcome or adapted to the prevailing culture.

These efforts and others are supported by the 3-year-old IBM Women in Technology Steering Committee, a key component of IBM’s serious commitment to workforce diversity.


A FINAL WORD ABOUT TERMINOLOGY

When advocates of technical careers use the word “technology,” it’s generally as shorthand for the “SET” group—science, engineering, and technology. From the standpoint of the education of young people, it certainly makes sense to group the three, because all require the same primary-school preparation in mathematics and basic science. And all three have similar image problems among young people. What’s more, as the processes of technology and engineering become increasingly miniaturized—when single molecules serve as machine parts—it’s impossible to extricate science from the mix.

But one of our primary goals is to demystify these disciplines for young people, and that requires as much simplicity and clarity as possible. Besides, it’s important to know the distinctions—particularly between technology and science—because some inquisitive young audience member is likely to ask about them.

From the dictionary’s perspective, science is the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena in the natural world.

• The Latin root is scire -- “to know”

Engineering is the application of scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design, manufacture, and operation of efficient and economical structures, machines, processes, and systems.

• It’s from the Latin ingeniare: to design or devise.

Technology is the process by which human beings fashion tools and machines to increase their understanding and mastery of the physical world, especially for industrial and economic benefit.

• The word is derived from the Greek: tekhne means art or craft; logia signifies study or rational application.

It’s interesting to note that technology—seemingly the “hot” concept of the Millennium—actually predates science. Technology existed long before humanity developed the verbal and mathematical skills that are essential precursors to science. When early humans fashioned stones into tools, that was technology; science had nothing to do with it.

But again—in a world where technology can’t exist without physics and chemistry—the distinctions understandably blur. And yet this “blur” may be part of what frightens young people off. If we’re going to educate kids about the vast number of diverse opportunities that exist in these related fields, we are going to have to bring these concepts into sharp, brilliant focus.