Number of Female Programmers: US & Worldwide - Answers Here

[Sypher]

Now this is a question that not only bugs me but all the other male programmers I know in South-Africa (I do'nt know how it is in other countries): How many female programmers are there? And how and at what age do they get interested in programming?

I have heard that most female programmers are asian and that there are'nt that much in the US but I don't know if this is true.

I would like to know this because it would be nice to have someone who won't get bored if I start talking alorithims and procedure and could actualy understand what I am saying.

So if you are/are intersted in programming or you know a female programmer let me know in this post.

 

[junglebeast]

It is true that there are very few female programmers in the US.

If you were a construction worker, would you only be interested in dating female construction workers?

I'll let you learn the hard way that this is not actually the best plan.

 

[leroyjenkens]

Female programmers exist? I honestly don't think I've ever seen one.

It is true that there are very few female programmers in the US.

If you were a construction worker, would you only be interested in dating female construction workers?

I'll let you learn the hard way that this is not actually the best plan.

I agree with that, but what construction worker actually gets excited enough about construction to want to talk about it? And any stories they have to tell probably won't be very esoteric, so anyone could appreciate them.

 

[Sypher]

If you were a construction worker, would you only be interested in dating female construction workers?

That was damn well said. I almost pIsd myself wet thinking about it that way.
But I not realy interested in dating female programmers but it would still be interesting to know if there are any.

 

[Pupil]

Above: programmer.

 

[kldickson]

I am female. I'm not a programmer. I'm a neurobiology student. We in science are quite different from programmers, engineers, mathematicians, et cetera. At the same time, there are some commonalities between all of we nerdy women.

I can't help but think from the tone of some of the posts here (from even the title.) that there's some sort of, well, exasperation or anger at women with almost a sexist tinge to it.

That is not a good thing.

Compsci classes are chock full of women; go to professional conferences, go to places where programmers are going to meet. If you're looking only where you work, you're going to come up short, and you will probably run into some trouble with policy about workplace interactions.

 

[Redbelly98]

... it would be nice to have someone who won't get bored if I start talking alorithims and procedure and could actualy understand what I am saying.

Alternatively, you could refrain from talking about programming to people who are bored by it.

EDIT: or, learn how to talk about programming to non-programmers.

 

[negitron]

Above: programmer.

I can find no evidence of this.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I'm female and I've done programming in school and on the job. Most of my close female friends are programmers and they are all different ethnicities. They all had different reasons for getting into it. I asked one of my friends, who is Nigerian, how she got interested in it and she told me that when she was a little girl she always knew she wanted to be "some kind of engineer". She said she loved math and logic and she loved to build things.

I've worked with lots and lots of female developers, so I guess in Southern California it's just not that unusual. I have noticed that there are less women working in game development than other areas like financial systems, website development, and database marketing.

So why is it that you want so badly to talk to women about algorithms?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

World's first programmer: Ada Lovelace

 

[negitron]

World's first programmer: Ada Lovelace

Meh. Not really. Or, rather, she was a programmer in much the same way that Da Vinci was a pilot.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Meh. Not really. Or, rather, she was a programmer in much the same way that Da Vinci was a pilot.

Well she wrote code. ;-p

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Never thought about it before, but I've never met a woman who does systems integration, which includes a lot of programming. I'm sure there are women on the staffs of very large integration firms, but there must be very few at smaller scale.

 

[Evo]

My older daughter is majoring in computer science. She had switched to biology, but just switched back.

 

[donotremember]

I believe the number of women in tech jobs correlates closely with gender equality in that area.

 

[rabbitweed]

It's a male fest in my comp sci class for me; I think there's 5 women out of ~60 students.

Been thinking a lot about why there's a dearth of women in STEM generally.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Computer science was reasonably integrated at my college; above a quarter of the students were women. Math. sadly, was not -- we had < 10%.

 

[lisab]

Computer science was reasonably integrated at my college; above a quarter of the students were women. Math. sadly, was not -- we had < 10%.

Wow, the math classes I took at a community college and at the University of Washington were well integrated. The physics classes...not so much.

Not that it bothered me...I liked the ratio .

 

[Math Is Hard]

My database mgmt. training classes always seemed to have more women than men. I think my last SQL server admin class had like 10 women and 2 men. Bunch of naughty girls, too. Our poor instructor was just about to talk about DTS packages and had a demo for us. He said, "OK, now I'm going to show you my package." That resulted in much giggling and snorting and kicking each other under the table. Good times. Good times.

 

[lisab]

My database mgmt. training classes always seemed to have more women than men. I think my last SQL server admin class had like 10 women and 2 men. Bunch of naughty girls, too. Our poor instructor was just about to talk about DTS packages and had a demo for us. He said, "OK, now I'm going to show you my package." That resulted in much giggling and snorting and kicking each other under the table. Good times. Good times.

Omg, that made me laugh so hard I cried.

 

[fileen]

Im not in programing or computers at all, but I have some friends in computer sciences (all male) and they often complain about the small numbers of ladies. I know at my university there are special scholarships and work terms that are specifically for women. The guys complain about it because they often just sit there waiting for a woman to apply for or become candidates for them. I think its an attempt to encourage women to stay in those programs. A friend of mine recently got hired by Microsoft and has complained to me (constantly) about the fact that "there are no women". I don't know about other schools, but here there are a lot of really intimidating initiations for first years in engineering and computer programs. I met a girl in engineering who was physically held down and had her hair shaved into a mowhawk. I am pretty sure that had a lot to do with why she was switching her program to pure physics.

 

[sas3]

Above: programmer.

I can find no evidence of this.

Look at her belt, it was made by a card punch machine.

 

[lisab]

Im not in programing or computers at all, but I have some friends in computer sciences (all male) and they often complain about the small numbers of ladies. I know at my university there are special scholarships and work terms that are specifically for women. The guys complain about it because they often just sit there waiting for a woman to apply for or become candidates for them. I think its an attempt to encourage women to stay in those programs. A friend of mine recently got hired by Microsoft and has complained to me (constantly) about the fact that "there are no women". I don't know about other schools, but here there are a lot of really intimidating initiations for first years in engineering and computer programs. I met a girl in engineering who was physically held down and had her hair shaved into a mowhawk. I am pretty sure that had a lot to do with why she was switching her program to pure physics.

Holy crap, I've never heard of such a thing! I was a chemistry/physics major (never finished the chemistry degree) and had a lot of math too...I was never intimidated like this. I hope she reported it! This sort of thing is absolutely unheard of in my experience (granted I finished school about 18 years ago).

I attended schools in California, Alaska, and Washington. Where did this happen?

 

[negitron]

Look at her belt, it was made by a card punch machine.

Give me a break.

 

[Pupil]

Give me a break.

What else would she be doing under the hood of that car besides thinking of the most efficient code to find Mersenne primes?

 

[fileen]

Holy crap, I've never heard of such a thing! I was a chemistry/physics major (never finished the chemistry degree) and had a lot of math too...I was never intimidated like this. I hope she reported it! This sort of thing is absolutely unheard of in my experience (granted I finished school about 18 years ago).

I attended schools in California, Alaska, and Washington. Where did this happen?

I live in Ontario Canada, I love my university and would prefer not to tarnish it by leaving its name here in such an unpleasant situation. I know that mine is not the only one that has initiations associated with engineering programs. She wasnt the only one to have her head shaved, all the engineering students do it. I guess she refused, and they decided to take matters into their own hands. They all do it during frosh week, and it was the second week of classes when I met her in the student services office prepared to change her major. Thats how you recognize the engineering students- mowhawks and beards. Its possible that other ladies were involved in the head shaving and it had nothing to do with being female so much as not conforming to expectations.

 

[Sypher]

I am female. I'm not a programmer. I'm a neurobiology student. We in science are quite different from programmers, engineers, mathematicians, et cetera. At the same time, there are some commonalities between all of we nerdy women.

I can't help but think from the tone of some of the posts here (from even the title.) that there's some sort of, well, exasperation or anger at women with almost a sexist tinge to it.

That is not a good thing.

Compsci classes are chock full of women; go to professional conferences, go to places where programmers are going to meet. If you're looking only where you work, you're going to come up short, and you will probably run into some trouble with policy about workplace interactions.

Thanks for your reply kldicson but just have to say that I am not a sexist. Quite the contrary in fact but that's not what's this is about. I (and I believe a whole lot of other guys too) am interested in knowing how many female programmers there are, where they are from and at what age they started programming (Males usu. get into programming at 15 myself included).

 

[Sypher]

I'm female and I've done programming in school and on the job. Most of my close female friends are programmers and they are all different ethnicities. They all had different reasons for getting into it. I asked one of my friends, who is Nigerian, how she got interested in it and she told me that when she was a little girl she always knew she wanted to be "some kind of engineer". She said she loved math and logic and she loved to build things.

I've worked with lots and lots of female developers, so I guess in Southern California it's just not that unusual. I have noticed that there are less women working in game development than other areas like financial systems, website development, and database marketing.

So why is it that you want so badly to talk to women about algorithms?

Thats good to hear. I live in in South-Africa and never ever seen a female programmer in my life. There are a lot of female primary school IT teachers though. I think the main reason to my dillema is that computers have only been around for about 20 years in this idiot country.

Oh and to your question why I want to talk alogorithm to women is that with my hacker buddies I never get a word in. I want to talk about my code and they want to talk about theirs and I am a very polite person, so I let them speak. Maybe with a woman, I can get a chance.

 

[fileen]

Thats good to hear. I live in in South-Africa and never ever seen a female programmer in my life. There are a lot of female primary school IT teachers though. I think the main reason to my dillema is that computers have only been around for about 20 years in this idiot country.

Oh and to your question why I want to talk alogorithm to women is that with my hacker buddies I never get a word in. I want to talk about my code and they want to talk about theirs and I am a very polite person, so I let them speak. Maybe with a woman, I can get a chance.

If you really love what you do, its natural to want to share it with the people youre really close to. I am pretty crazy about my horses, so I talk about them alot. One reason my relationship has worked out so long is that my boyfriend and I both make efforts to take part in each others interests. That does not just mean accepting and respecting that they are interested, but actively trying to understand their interests and taking part in them. This means I've had to learn a lot of stuff about computers so that I can keep up with him when he wants to talk about something that is important to him. It also means he's had to take riding lessons and come with me to horse shows to support me in my sport. When we are done school we would both like to live on a farm. I don't expect him to muck stalls or get serious about showing horses, but I do expect him to actively support me. Likewise my boyfriend knows that I will never be a programmer or pursue a career in computers, but I do try to understand what is going on when he has learned something exciting. You don't have to have the exact same interests (in fact that may even be irritating) but having an open mind and desire to be supportive can be enough.

 

[MissSilvy]

It's weird; math seems to have a decent amount of women (10-20%), biology is mostly women (more than half, at any rate), chem is also fairly even, but CS and physics are just low. U of I has a great CS department, so we see more women in the depart but it's still a sausage fest. In physics, women are practically a rumor. One guy I was talking to who just graduated said he was in upper level physics courses with a girl in the class once. Twice if you count a chick that got the wrong classroom number on the first day.

That said, girls in any STEM major and pretty open and generally interested in more than their field of study. You could talk to a math chick about algorithms, and even if she doesn't know everything about it, she could still make intelligent comments and be interesting.

 

[KingOfChaos]

Be like me...be a nerd, but work out with weights. Look like a man that takes care of his body as well as his brain and you'll have women of all types all over you.

 

[KingOfChaos]

Computer science was reasonably integrated at my college; above a quarter of the students were women. Math. sadly, was not -- we had < 10%.

Okay, where the hell have I see your username before? Do you play D&D? I could have sworn you used to post on my forums.

 

[junglebeast]

My university had a few hundred male CS students and 2 females (if you can call them that).

 

[Sypher]

Something seems strange to me. A lot of males says females progies are practically non-existent while females says they are pleniful.

 

[MissSilvy]

My university had a few hundred male CS students and 2 females (if you can call them that).

Awe, beast, that's not very nice to say :(

 

[lisab]

Something seems strange to me. A lot of males says females progies are practically non-existent while females says they are pleniful.

Maybe women programmers are only visible to women programmers.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I think there should be more women in programming. I was recently complaining about the lack of women in my field when my wife overheard. She takes a dim view of my generous nature. She says that while it is interesting to note the phenomenon, it is pointless to do anything about it. A more important issue is whether equivalent pay is received for equivalent work. This is not the case among males alone nor among females alone and this is as it should be in a free society. However, discrepencies in compensation between males and females as groups is prohibited by law. While I prefer fewer laws rather than more, I see no need for the discrepency and so consider this law less harmful than most.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Maybe women programmers are only visible to women programmers.

We have a secret hand signal.

 

[CRGreathouse]

A more important issue is whether equivalent pay is received for equivalent work. This is not the case among males alone nor among females alone and this is as it should be in a free society. However, discrepencies in compensation between males and females as groups is prohibited by law. While I prefer fewer laws rather than more, I see no need for the discrepency and so consider this law less harmful than most.

I don't favor laws of that type (though I am a *strong* advocate of equality, de facto as well as de jure), but my desire for more women in programming would probably encourage me to forsake my principles in this case.

 

[mheslep]

I'm female and I've done programming in school ...

Then is that you above MIH?

 

[ideasrule]

However, discrepencies in compensation between males and females as groups is prohibited by law. While I prefer fewer laws rather than more, I see no need for the discrepency and so consider this law less harmful than most.

If female programmers are generally less skilled or less passionate about CS than their male counterparts, what logical reason is there to give them the same salary? You could use a hand-waving argument regarding "equality", but males and females are clearly not equal in almost every respect. Interest in physics and CS is one of them.

Now, mind you, I'm not saying that female programmers aren't as skilled; I simply don't know whether that is true. If it's true, however, and if a company decides it's true, arguments involving equality are moot.

 

[fileen]

If female programmers are generally less skilled or less passionate about CS than their male counterparts, what logical reason is there to give them the same salary? You could use a hand-waving argument regarding "equality", but males and females are clearly not equal in almost every respect. Interest in physics and CS is one of them.

Now, mind you, I'm not saying that female programmers aren't as skilled; I simply don't know whether that is true. If it's true, however, and if a company decides it's true, arguments involving equality are moot.

The stereotype that women are less skilled or less passionate about fields like computing or engineering probably has a lot to do with why women avoid those fields. I don't know what its like in computers because although I have an interest I have very little skill, however I know in the horse business which is my specialty, there is a lot of sexism in certain areas. For example, in racing. Most tracks refuse to install a ladies change room, and force female jockeys to change with men. The fact that there is often one woman for every 25-30 men leads to a very uncomfortable change room for everyone involved. Female jockeys have a very hard time getting jobs, and have to perform amazingly to get much attention. A lot of this has improved over time, but the reality is that the stereotype and discrimination is there. I worked a lot with race horses in preparation for the track, and after 2 or 3 run-ins with owners, jockeys and other trainers I quickly got the message that I would never belong or be respected because I was a woman. The owners were only comfortable with me working their horses if they knew I was being overseen by a man. I know that although there are many reason I don't wish to be involved in that business, the sexism is a huge part of it. I have no interest in getting to to a field where I have to fight for my position or respect because of my sex. Whether is exists or not, a perceived sexism in the field may be turning women of from careers in computer science. Sometimes one bad experience is enough to give a person a bad taste. I remember in high school there was a very clear line between the guy classes (computing, tech, etc), the girl classes (vocals, psychology, etc) and the smart vs non-smart classes. My last year of high school I had a few "friends" refuse to associate with me because I took physics for university prep (how I ended up on this forum) along with calculus, biology and chemistry. I just wanted to get into university, but the "smart kid" stereotype put me in a subgroup that I couldn't seem to get myself out of. I know that most adults don't behave so immaturely, but experiences like that may cause a person to focus their studies in different areas. A woman who takes computers in high school and feels social pressures (whether real or imagined) may decide not to proceed with those courses later.

 

[lisab]

If female programmers are generally less skilled or less passionate about CS than their male counterparts...

Please post a valid source showing that this statement is true.

 

[rootX]

Please post a valid source showing that this statement is true.

If female programmers are generally less skilled or less passionate about CS than their male counterparts, what logical reason is there to give them the same salary? You could use a hand-waving argument regarding "equality", but males and females are clearly not equal in almost every respect. Interest in physics and CS is one of them.

...

Interest in physics and CS is one of them.

You quoted the wrong part I believe.@general:
Last time, my friend wanted to be a female because of 20 male : 1 female ratio in our class and males going crazy when comes to helping females. Some just need to bring some tears and get >5 males helping them. Just few moments after, I saw another friend printing some pages for a girl who couldn't get the printer working and asked him for help. When I asked that guy to print some papers few weeks earlier his response was that he don't have enough money in his account :p

 

[lisab]

Last time, my friend wanted to be a female because of 20 male : 1 female ratio in our class and males going crazy when comes to helping females.

Wow...your friend wanted you to be a female ?

 

[rootX]

Wow...your friend wanted you to be a female ?

Sorry, I meant he wanted to be a female and his comment came few moments after a girl brought some tears and guys started helping her out.But no one was willing to help him.

 

[lisab]

Sorry, I meant he wanted to be a female and his comment came few moments after a girl brought some tears and guys started helping her out.But no one was willing to help him.

Ah, I understand now.

I never cried in school, and I never saw any of my fellow female students cry. In fact I never remember even asking anyone for help, and I never remember seeing any of my (very few) fellow female students play "helpless victim" to get help. All were very smart, strong, and capable. So your experience is nothing like mine.

 

[berkeman]

Now this is a question that not only bugs me but all the other male programmers I know in South-Africa (I do'nt know how it is in other countries): How many female programmers are there? And how and at what age do they get interested in programming?

I have heard that most female programmers are asian and that there are'nt that much in the US but I don't know if this is true.

I would like to know this because it would be nice to have someone who won't get bored if I start talking alorithims and procedure and could actualy understand what I am saying.

So if you are/are intersted in programming or you know a female programmer let me know in this post.

Well, now that the teeny-boppers have chimed in, here's a dose of the real world.

At my company, around half of the programmers are very talented women (with the other half being very talented males). All the way from startup through successful company, it's been about 50-50. And not based on quotas and such -- when you are a startup, the only things that matter are super productivity and working well under pressure.

Real world. Get used to it.

 

[ideasrule]

Well, now that the teeny-boppers have chimed in, here's a dose of the real world.

At my company, around half of the programmers are very talented women (with the other half being very talented males). All the way from startup through successful company, it's been about 50-50. And not based on quotas and such -- when you are a startup, the only things that matter are super productivity and working well under pressure.

Real world. Get used to it.

That's rather inconsistent with what most people here have said about female programmers. Can somebody else who works in a software firm comment?

 

[berkeman]

That's rather inconsistent with what most people here have said about female programmers. Can somebody else who works in a software firm comment?

Maybe inconsistent with the teeny-bopper males, but things are results-oriented here in Silicon Valley. Maybe some more comments from Si Valley?