Gender bias in computing is a hard problem that has resisted decades of research. One obstacle has been the absence of systematic data that might indicate when gender bias emerged in computing and how it has changed. This article presents a new dataset (N=50,000) focusing on formative years of computing as a profession (1950-1980) when U.S. government workforce statistics are thin or non-existent. This longitudinal dataset, based on archival records from six computer user groups (SHARE, USE, and others) and ACM conference attendees and membership rosters, revises commonly held conjectures that gender bias in computing emerged during professionalization of computer science in the 1960s or 1970s and that there was a 'linear' one-time onset of gender bias to the present. Such a linear view also lent support to the "pipeline" model of computing's "losing" women at successive career stages. Instead, this dataset reveals three distinct periods of gender bias in computing and so invites temporally distinct explanations for these changing dynamics. It significantly revises both scholarly assessment and popular understanding about gender bias in computing. It also draws attention to diversity within computing. One consequence of this research for CS reform efforts today is data-driven recognition that legacies of gender bias beginning in the mid-1980s (not in earlier decades) is the problem. A second consequence is correcting the public image of computer science: this research shows that gender bias is a contingent aspect of professional computing, not an intrinsic or permanent one.
翻译:计算机中的性别偏向是一个棘手的问题,它阻碍了数十年的研究。一个障碍是缺乏系统的数据,这些数据可能表明计算机中出现性别偏向时以及这种偏向是如何改变的。本文章展示了一个新的数据集(N=50 000),侧重于作为职业的计算机的形成年份(1950-1980年),当时美国政府的劳动力统计很薄或不存在。这种纵向数据集,基于六个计算机用户群体(SHARE、USE和其他)和ACM会议参与者和成员名册的档案记录,它揭示了计算机中三个截然不同的性别偏向时期,从而为这些变化的动态提供了时间性解释。它大大修正了1960年代或1970年代计算机科学专业化期间出现的计算中的性别偏向的常识性,以及目前存在“线性”性别偏向的一次性开始。这种线性观点还支持了计算“管道”模式在连续的职业阶段“消失”妇女。相反,该数据集揭示了计算机中三个截然不同的性别偏向期,因此为这些变化的动态解释。它大大地修正了学术评估和大众对计算中性别偏向的性别偏向性的理解。它也并没有引起对目前这种性别偏向性研究的注意。