To: Dr. Erika Paterson
From: Anna Li
Date: February 14, 2021
Subject: Proposal for Improving Gender Disparity in Department of Computer Science in UBC
Audience Description:
Officers of Equity and Inclusion Office, UBC
Introduction:
For past decades, computer science has increased its popularity among many freshmen; however, according to statistics Canada, females still take a small proportion in the computer science programs even nowadays. (Statistic Canada, 2021) It is hard to find a university without gender disparity issues in the computer science program, UBC is no exception.
There are many contributing factors to this phenomenon. First and foremost, gender division of labor that has rooted in people’s minds has exceptionally affected women’s career choice which results in a low percentage of female student representation in computer science. Also, the lack of resources, for example, studies have shown that women have less access to computers as to their male, which has also deferred women’s success in the tech field. Besides, the lack of female role models for female learners causes low motivation for women to pursue careers in computer science. These factors grew and gave born to each other for the past decades which inevitably causes gender disparity in the computer science program.
Statement of Problem:
According to Statistics from The Faculty of Science, Computer Science website(n.d.), UBC has experienced a low female enrollment rate in computer science and software engineering majors over the last past 20 years, with 25.9% female in 2000, the most recent data suggests in 2015 that computer science and software engineering majors only have the enrollment rate of female for 21.6%, which is even lower than 20 years before. It is rather strange to find out how data is surprising dropping for female enrollment in CS despiting how UBC promotes their equity and inclusiveness policy as it claimed.
Proposed Solution:
Several measurements can be taken to increase women’s enrollment rate in computer science programs according to the factors that have been identified; however, the most fundamental solution is to create more supportive resources for females in the university setting. By running more supportive programs for female students through the equity and inclusion office, females from UBC can gain more information about the tech industry and also build a community to support each other together.
Scope:
To assess the feasibility of creating supportive resources for females, I plan to investigate:
- To what extent does gender disparity exist in computer science programs in Canadian universities?
- What are the reasons causing the current phenomenon?
- What is UBC students’ experience in regard to gender ratio in computer science class?
- Reasons that hinder female students from taking computer science classes?
- What kind of resources did UBC students use when selecting their major?
- What are the measurements that have been implemented to help women engage in the computer science field?
Methods:
Data collected through interviews with both male and female cs and non-cs students in UBC would be my primary resource to investigate the reason for the gender gap and also collect feedback from students about the potential solution.
The secondary resource will include publications around dilemmas for women to succeed in the computer science program and measurements for bridging the gender gap within the field.
My Qualification:
I have been following related research on the gender gap within different industries for years, also, I have already conducted some research on gender inequality during my previous graduate study in social justice, as now I am in the computer science program, I believe I can gain a deeper understanding for gender disparity issue.
Conclusion:
It is of great importance to bridge the gender gap within the tech industry with the unfolding of the status quo in the computer science program. By addressing the factors that contribute to the current phenomenon and analyzing the work has been done for past years, I can identify several measurements for universities, such as UBC, to further engage women in computer science programs in the future.
Reference:
Statistics. (n.d.). Computer Science at UBC. https://www.cs.ubc.ca/our-department/diversity/statistics
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