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Keynotes

Each day at CWC 2008 closes with a keynote by an invited speaker. This year's keynotes explore the experiences of women in computing – both from personal and empirical viewpoints.

My experiences, observations, wishes, hopes and dreams regarding women in computing

Gloria W. Jacobs

Gloria will speak about

  • Experiences in the 1980's and today as a female software developer in NYC.
  • Female roles models (or lack thereof) then and now.
  • The invisibility of the Geek Girl, and how we should fix this problem.

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An Endangered Species? Women in ICT

Barbara Crump

Women from Western countries who study and work in the information and communications technology (ICT) arena are the minority gender. The academic literature and the media have explored reasons for this phenomenon at a time when the traditionally male-dominated professions such as accountancy, law and medicine enjoy a more equitable gender distribution. Statistics from the American Institute of Physics for the past four decades show an increasing trend for women completing bachelor degrees in the different fields of science such as chemistry, biological science, and engineering. The figures contrast with the alarmingly steady decline for computer science over the past two decades. The New Zealand situation mirrors that of other Western nations with female enrolments in computer science, and employment in the ICT industry below critical mass of 30 percent.

These statistics tell us the bald story of the low numbers of females in the computing field but it is through qualitative studies that we begin to understand some of the reasons for the gender disparity.

My talk situates our three-study New Zealand research project, conducted over the past decade, amongst international studies that have theorised reasons for the low participation rate of women in computing. The three qualitative and quantitative New Zealand studies involved 391 IT professionals working in a variety of highly skilled, managerial, or skilled occupations that included IT managers, software developers, business analysts, IT project managers and programmers. A small number of computer science female students also participated in the first qualitative study.
The overall goal for the studies was to investigate participants’ perceptions of their ICT workplace with questions around the key areas of culture, work-life balance, salaries, negotiation and glass ceiling. The findings revealed a gendered division of labour in the ICT workplace, implications of the enduring stereotyped geek image, and socially-shaped gendered attitudinal differences that affected aspects of the women’s work environment.

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HerStory – successful women tell their personal story

Speakers to be announced

Hugely successful in both previous Computing Women Congresses, our HerStory keynote features women from IT and related fields who tell their personal stories to provide inspiration and encouragement to other women.

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