Gender stereotypes within programming: How it favors one gender over another_Sect662
We are all familiar with gender norms in programming but I feel like it is a topic that is not talked about enough. Women are out earned by men in almost every single occupation and the field of programming is no exception. They are paid less and work less hours per year. Even though the discrimination has diminished over years but there is still a difference in the wage gap and hours of work that is impossible to be ignored. According to Glassdoor, In the United States of America women make around $0.95 to every $1 men earn in IT, also referred to as information technology. That is huge improvement considering there was a 28.3% wage gap between both genders, meaning for every $1 men earn, women made $0.72! Another example of this can be seen in a study conducted by the U.S. bureau of labor statistics, 79% of computer programmers are male. Now, that is a difference too big to be ignored.
So, you might be wondering, why this difference exists? There are a number of factors that affect the overall result. This might be hard to believe but programming used to be a women’s job! Grace Hopper, one of the engineers who made the first digital computer said “Women are ‘naturals’ at computer programming”. She further elaborated that programming is “Just like planning a dinner. She said it required advanced preparation, patience and attention to detail.” It was considered a women’s work because it was misunderstood. People thought it requires minor labor but they had no idea about how one needs critical thinking ability and needs to perform complex operations, along with intense debugging. Eventually, to become a programmer, the requirement of aptitude tests were introduced and men had a better chance of clearing those exams because women were usually drawn away from STEM education. And over time, the gender gap increased and eventually men are seen dominating the field till this date.
And the question you have all been waiting for... How is it still happening in this day and age? That’s where stereotypes come in. When you hear the word “Programmer”, the picture that comes in mind is either a fat male nerd with glasses who has been a bookworm and has been bullied his whole life. That is the stereotype we have created for programmers. A sad but true example of this stereotype is Google headquarters employee James Damore’s infamous memo where he said How women deal with more stress than men and their biology makes them prone to anxiety. He was fired but that explains the stereotypical mentality. Another stereotype that largely affects this is confidence gap between men and women. A large number of women think they are not fit for coding or they don’t have what it takes to be a programmer. All such stereotypes, along with sexual harassment and sexist behavior of male employees makes up for a toxic workplace, which makes programming an undesired field for women.
Now that we have identified the problem... What is a possible solution for this? The situation regarding wage gap has improved a lot over the years, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. In Google, there are around 20% of women who are working as programmers. We need to break the stereotypes of programmers who are nerdy geeky men! Companies should accept programmers irrespective of their genders. There should be a non-toxic work environment in which women can work in a non sexist atmosphere. Sexual harassment should not be tolerated. And last but not the least, we should break the stereotype of women not knowing how to code. If we are able to successfully achieve the above goals, the wage gap will be solved in no time. #breakthestereotype
