Stout Jane G, Tamer Burçin, Wright Heather M, Clarke Lori A, Dwarkadas Sandhya, Howard Ayanna M
Computing Research Association Washington, DC, USA.
College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, MA, USA.
Front Psychol. 2017 Jan 10;7:2071. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02071. eCollection 2016.
Women engaged in computing career tracks are vastly outnumbered by men and often must contend with negative stereotypes about their innate technical aptitude. Research suggests women's marginalized presence in computing may result in women psychologically disengaging, and ultimately dropping out, perpetuating women's underrepresentation in computing. To combat this vicious cycle, the Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) runs a multi-day mentorship workshop for women graduate students called Grad Cohort, which consists of a speaker series and networking opportunities. We studied the long-term impact of Grad Cohort on women Ph.D. students' (a) dedication to becoming well-known in one's field, and giving back to the community (), (b) the degree to which one feels computing is an important element of "who they are" (, and (c) beliefs that computing skills are innate (). Of note, entity beliefs are known to be demoralizing and can lead to disengagement from academic endeavors. We compared a propensity score matched sample of women and men Ph.D. students in computing programs who had never participated in Grad Cohort to a sample of past Grad Cohort participants. Grad Cohort participants reported interest in becoming well-known in their field to a greater degree than women non-participants, and to an equivalent degree as men. Also, Grad Cohort participants reported stronger interest in giving back to the community than their peers. Further, whereas women non-participants identified with computing to a lesser degree than men and held stronger entity beliefs than men, Grad Cohort participants' computing identity and entity beliefs were equivalent to men. Importantly, stronger entity beliefs predicted a weaker computing identity among students, with the exception of Grad Cohort participants. This latter finding suggests Grad Cohort may shield students' computing identity from the damaging nature of entity beliefs. Together, these findings suggest Grad Cohort may fortify women's commitment to pursuing computing research careers and move the needle toward greater gender diversity in computing.
从事计算机职业领域的女性数量远远少于男性，而且她们常常要应对有关其天生技术能力的负面刻板印象。研究表明，女性在计算机领域的边缘化状况可能导致她们在心理上产生疏离感，并最终退出该领域，从而使女性在计算机领域的代表性持续偏低。为了打破这种恶性循环，计算机研究协会计算机研究领域女性地位委员会（CRA-W）为女性研究生举办了一个为期多天的指导研讨会，名为“研究生 cohort”，其中包括一系列演讲和交流机会。我们研究了“研究生 cohort”对女性博士生的长期影响：（a）致力于在自己的领域成名并回馈社区，（b）认为计算机是“自我认知”重要组成部分的程度，以及（c）认为计算技能是天生的信念。值得注意的是，实体信念被认为会使人士气低落，并可能导致人们脱离学术努力。我们将从未参加过“研究生 cohort”的计算机专业男女博士生倾向得分匹配样本与过去参加过“研究生 cohort”的样本进行了比较。“研究生 cohort”的参与者表示，她们比未参加的女性更有兴趣在自己的领域成名，且与男性的程度相当。此外，“研究生 cohort”的参与者表示，她们比同龄人更有兴趣回馈社区。此外，未参加的女性与计算机的认同感低于男性，且持有比男性更强的实体信念，而“研究生 cohort”的参与者在计算机身份认同和实体信念方面与男性相当。重要的是，除了“研究生 cohort”的参与者外，更强的实体信念预示着学生的计算机身份认同较弱。后一项发现表明，“研究生 cohort”可能会保护学生的计算机身份认同不受实体信念的破坏性影响。这些发现共同表明，“研究生 cohort”可能会增强女性追求计算机研究职业的决心，并推动计算机领域实现更大的性别多样性。
