Getting More Women into Technology Careers and Why It Matters

Abstract

Over the past decade the participation of females in the tech industry has declined rather than advanced. This is unfortunate for young women because of the incredible career opportunities, for the tech industry because of the loss of incoming talent, and for society because of the loss of diversity of perspective among tech teams. I will talk about the reasons why women tend not to major in computer technology fields and how Harvey Mudd College dramatically increased the number of females majoring in computer science, from 10% of the majors to 40% over a three year period.