Introduction

Abstract

In the last 20 years, the female representation in computer science has continued to drop, despite substantial time and effort to change this. Part of the reason it has failed is that, while we are better understanding why females are not well represented, we are far behind in implementing changes. While computer science professors are powerless to change the first 18 years of a student’s life, there are many things one can do for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty to even the playing field. Many professors are unaware how big of a difference they can make–and that many of their current practices may contribute to the negative environment for females (or, worse, be instances of unintentional discrimination). The high–level goal of this book is to provide a short, concise guide for computer science professors to understand the background of the problem, what changes they can make, and the research behind those changes.