ITWF: Cross Ethnic Differences in Undergraduate Women's Preference for Information Technology

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ABSTRACTInformation Technology Workforce (ITWF) - FY03Proposal ID: EIA-0305898Investigator: Roli Varma and Deepak KapurInstitution: University of New MexicoTitle: The Cross Ethnic Differences in Undergraduate Women's Preference for Information TechnologyThe University of New Mexico has received an IWF award to support a continuation of the ITWF-funded one-year pilot led by Roli Varma entitled "Why So Few Women in Information Technology: A Comparative Study" (EIA-0120055). The pilot focused on the following two questions along gender and ethnic lines: (i) Why do women who have the potential to succeed in the study of IT disciplines take alternative educational paths?(ii) What barriers and obstacles must be overcome to attract more women to IT education?The pilot utilized the technique of ethnographic interviews to acquire primary data on the subject. Over 65 undergraduate students in different ethnic groups, majoring in computer science or computer engineering, in 4 minority-serving institutions were interviewed. Preliminary findings confirmed for women and minorities in science and engineering and IT issues such as: (i) the digital divide, (ii) a confidence gap in mathematics and IT; (iii) subtle biases in early socialization; (iv) the masculine environment; and (v) lack of role models and mentoring. Preliminary findings also revealed that: (i) students' perception of IT as white and male-oriented was outweighed by job opportunities in IT; (ii) students who switched from CS and CE, remained within IT-related areas, because they offered better job prospects and economic gains; (iii) students experienced technical difficulties because of lack of experience with debugging skills and inadequate problem solving skills; (iv) students had poor time management skills especially when they did not have their family's financial support for education and thus had to work part-time to support their studies. The full study will have approximately 170 participants and will take place in 5 additional Minority Serving Institutions. By including the examination of ethnicity as well as gender as a factor, the full study aims both at deepening understanding of women's choices and at extending understanding of these choices as expressed in the literature. Cross-gender and cross-cultural comparison will provide a better understanding of the issues related to the lack of participation by women in IT disciplines and careers, and will shed light on the possible differential contribution of ethnicity to gender based choices.