Letters to the Editor
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Quit outsourcing everything
The people you want for computer science are smart. They have the capacity to make money in any one of several fields. They used to flock to computer science because it was a great way to make a difference in the world while making enough money to afford all the toys they wanted.
Now, however, businesses think "outsource" first thing when they see an area with high salaries. I don't believe that too many jobs have been outsourced to places like India, but the perception is that all of American business IT (where the bulk of the jobs are) WILL BE outsourced at some point.
So why bother working hard to enter a field that won't give you a lifelong career? Go into business or chemistry or accountancy or something else that will let you make a good living for the rest of your life.
Again, I'm not so sure the truth is that US IT will be outsourced long term, but it certainly is the perception and neither women nor men want to go into a dead end field.
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why would anyone study computer science?
Speaking as a computer scientist (with academic credentials, now working as a software engineer) let me start by stating how ludicrous it is to suggest that computer science has a nerdier, more male-oriented reputation than other engineering disciplines. Take your pick of mechanical, chemical, electrical, or nuclear engineering. As far as I know, women aren't flocking into these fields either. I just wonder why the story is always about computer science.
To answer my own question, I studied computer science because I found it fascinating, and probably because I had some misguided notion that it would put me at the leading edge of very important, revolutionary technology. In reality, it leaves me working deep in the innards of very important, revolutionary technology. That's not a terrible situation to be in, but I'd bet that it's not what most people are seeking in a career.
The fact is that most Americans don't want to do tech of any kind. It's not a high status job, it requires plenty of work to get good at it, and the financial rewards, while good, are not substantially better than other opportunities. In other nations, particularly in the third world, one does find that engineering and science fields are high status fields, but my hunch is that given a chance, most of the people who focused on these fields for that reason would rather do something else if they had the opportunity--and often will do something else when they can, considering the number of foreign-born entrepreneurs in the US.
So I would spin the question around. Why is it that one can still find males in our anti-intellectual, math-phobic, get-rich-quick culture who will still do something as crazy as embark on an engineering path? It's crazy when they could, for instance, get business degrees and probably be better compensated for less work. Or they could study law or medicine and be respected as credentialed professionals. I can't answer that question either, and I don't mean to trivialize the differential behavior of male and female students. But if I'm not mistaken, more women are going into business, law, and medicine. Maybe women are just showing more common sense.
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Beyond Computer Science
While I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, I would say that when computer science is defined narrowly, as it is in most college curriculums, then yes, there are not many women in that particular major. However, if you look at related fields, like Information Systems or Information Technology, or even the more humanistic fields engaged with technology abd design, like Human-Computer Interaction, Technical Communication, Graphic Design, or Science and Technology studies, then I think we get a better picture of what is happening. Computer Science, as taught in many universities, is very focused on programming, where other related disciplines are focused on the integration of computing and communications technologies into workplaces, which do attract more women than computer science. IT in particular is more focused on adapting existing technology than on programming.
I don't think it's necessarily an image problem so much as an appropriate technology issue. People are motivated in their engagement with technology by what they see is appropriate for what they want to accomplish. I think the turn in general is away from making software to using what's available and adapting it to specific user needs. We saw this years ago with 'script kiddies.' If a user can download and adapt a Javascript for a website, why program a new one from scratch? Especially if the goal is to have a cool website and not to learn programming.
But the one thing I would be careful of is equating the number of women in a narrowly defined academic field like computer science with a lack of engagement with computer technology, as the quote from Dr. Cuny seems to suggest. If we expand our vision beyond that small segment of computing and see the vast interrelated fields of information systems design, usability, graphic design, content development, and technical project management, I think the picture is much more inclusive. These days, information products are made by teams of developers, not simply computer programmers, and while there are still not enough women in these teams, there are probably women involved in the process.
I don't disagree that we don't need more women involved in creating technology, but I don't think it's as dire as some people make it out to be that women aren't programmers.
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CS != Programming
I think the nytimes article you referenced makes a really important point. Computer Science is not the same thing as programming in much the same way that being a typist is the same thing as being a writer.
I've always been a bit surprised at the lack of female classmates during my studies in the field since I've always viewed Computer Science as the "backdoor" into every other field. Whether you're interested in mathematics, statistics, biology, chemistry, literature, linguistics, etc, computer science allows you to go into those fields with a toolset that is sufficiently different than that of the people who are already in that field that you can make valuable contributions and talk to interesting people. Computer Scientists are amongst the most creative and well rounded people I know (the good ones, anyways).
In this sense, I don't see what outsourcing has to do with the field of computer science. Very few people who study it seriously want to be a code monkey for a living. Most of us want to design things like voice recognition systems for computers and cell phones, or design the next social networking site (which requires a lot more anthropology and sociology than mathematics), or (in my case) use the tools of computer science and statistics to discover the secrets hidden inside the genomes of various organisms. Outsourcing of "code monkey" work would be great for the field of CS in as much as it would more or less scare off the few of us who think that "programming" and "computer science" are synonymous into pursuing some other sort of career.
Probably more women and more people in general would flock to our field if there wasn't this weird hollywood and media-driven notion that computer science consists of staring at a computer monitor all day typing code.