Take a look around you in 2015 and you'll find that just about everybody has a "device."
We are more connected now by technology than we ever have been, and with that arises more opportunity for people to get into the computers field. One potential presidential candidate, though, says that the number of women getting computer science degrees is actually lower today than it was in the past.
During a conference in Silicon Valley, Hillary Clinton pointed out that the heyday of women getting into the computers field isn't the present, but actually happened almost 30 years ago. Clinton said this:
"You had more women getting computer sciences degrees in the '80s by a factor of 2-plus than you do now."
PoltiFact took a look at Clinton's claim to see if it was true, and reporter Joshua Gillin says the former First Lady and Secretary of State's claim rates MOSTLY TRUE. Gillin says that while the numbers might be contested, the gist of her argument is fairly accurate.
"We took a look at the numbers going back to the early 1980s," Gillin said. "We found that almost 40 percent of computer science degrees were awarded to women. The number today is far less, coming in at just under 20 percent. Another way to look at it is to consider all degrees conferred to women. Back in the '80s, about 2.5 percent of those degrees were for computer science. Today, that figure stands at less 1 one percent."
Gillin notes that there are a lot of reasons for this to happen.
"One reason we found was that universities aren't really expanding their higher-level computer programs," he said. "That makes the introductory classes more of a place where schools would weed out the people who maybe only have a passing interest in computer science, and the research shows that that tends to favor the male students."
Gillin says that Clinton may not have the exact numbers, but her general observation is pretty much on track. which leads to her claim getting a MOSTLY TRUE rating from PolitiFact.
SOURCES: Fewer women getting computer science degrees?
- PolitiFact ruling
- re/code, "Hillary Rodham Clinton Talks NSA, Presidential Aspirations With Kara Swisher," Feb. 24, 2015
- Randal S. Olson, "Percentage of Bachelor’s degrees conferred to women, by major (1970-2012)," June 14, 2014
- U.S. Department of Education, "Table 325.35. Degrees in computer and information sciences conferred by postsecondary institutions, by level of degree and sex of student: 1970-71 through 2011-12," accessed Feb. 26, 2015
- U.S. Education Department, "Table 279. Degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by level of degree and sex of student: Selected years, 1869-70 through 2019-20," accessed Feb. 26, 2015
- Ed Lazowska, "Computer Science: The Ever-Expanding Sphere" (presentation), December 2014
- NPR, "When Women Stopped Coding," Oct. 21, 2014
- New York Times, "Hillary Clinton Sketches Campaign Messages in Silicon Valley," Feb. 24, 2015
- Politico, "Hillary Clinton tackles ISIL, previews economic message," Feb. 24, 2015
- Email interview with Roger Geiger, professor of higher education at Penn State University, Feb. 26, 2015
- Email interview with Randy Olson, PhD candidate at Michigan State University, Feb. 26, 2015
- Email interview with Daniel Kevles, historian of science at Yale Law School, Feb. 26, 2015
- Email interview with Margaret O'Mara, historian at the University of Washington and author of Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley, Feb. 26, 2015
- Email interview with Ed Lazowska, the Bill & Melinda Gates chair in computer science and engineering at the University of Washington, Feb. 26, 2015
- Email interview with Nathan Ensmenger, associate professor of informatics at Indiana University, Feb. 27, 2015
- Email interview with Nick Merrill, spokesman for Hillary Clinton, Feb. 26, 2015