Do We Know Why Girls Don't Like Computer Science?

We'll struggle to address the issue of gender balance if we don't know what's causing it.

There are various different theories about why we like what we like, and I recently read that we don't actually know why we like things - if asked why we like something, we just list a few positive properties that other things might also possess.

If you do a web search for why don't girls like computer science, you'll also find lots of results. Here are just some of the links from the first page:

• Why Many Women Don't Consider Studying CS
• Why aren't more girls in the UK choosing to study...
• "Girls Just Don't Like Computer Science" Isn't a Good...
• Why don't European girls like science or technology?
• Why girls are put off studying computer science
• Computer Science Just Isn't Doing It For Girls
• There Are Too Few Women in Computer Science and...
• Why Don't More Young Women Study Computing?

There are almost as many reasons as there are results, provided by organisations such as Microsoft, broadsheet newspapers, universities and exam boards. They include the following:

• girls interact with computers less and start later than boys
• there is a lack of women in the tech industry
• young women are not getting enough practical, hands-on experience with STEM subjects
• 60% of girls would feel more confident pursuing a career in STEM fields if they knew men and women were equally employed in those professions
• one factor putting women off the subject is almost certainly the geek culture that surrounds computer science
• it's not that they aren't interested; it's the culture of these fields and how they exclude women and girls
• computer anxiety ("for female students comfortable with routine computer usage (e.g. social networking), advanced complex computing tasks may still be anxiety inducing") and computing self-efficacy ("beliefs about one's aptitude to strategise for and execute steps required for future success")

I've also heard other explanations, such that girls prefer subjects that they see as "creative", and like a "narrative" approach to coursework.

My own daughter studied GCSE Computer Science and was, for a while, considering the A level. When I told her about the content of the NCCE "I Belong" course, she rolled her eyes and said "Girls don't do Computer Science because they don't want to be in a class with boys who like Computer Science, and they don't want to work in an office with men that like Computer Science!" I'm not sure how many 14-year olds are thinking about the workplace when they're choosing their options, though. Don't they choose the subjects that their friends choose?

A few years ago I returned to my alma mater for an outreach event. Some of my old lecturers were there, and talk turned to gender balance. They told me that my late 80s cohort was probably the best that there'd ever been, and that it had got progressively worse throughout the 90s and noughties. So we might not know what's discouraging females from studying Computer Science, but whatever we've been doing has made things worse. Switching to ICT in schools certainly didn't do the trick.

As a middle-aged man, I'm probably the least-qualified person to say why girls don't want to study Computer Science, so I'm not going to propose a solution - but I think that before we try to address the issue, we really need to find the underlying reason.

This blog was originally written in November 2024.