Women and Underrepresented Minorities in Computing: A Historical and Social Study

by William Aspray

Overview

This text examines in detail the issue of the underrepresentation of women, African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanics in the computing disciplines in the U.S. The work reviews the underlying causes, as well as the efforts of various nonprofit organizations to correct the situation, in order to both improve social equity and address the shortage of skilled workers in this area. Topics and features: presents a digest and historical overview of the relevant literature from a range of disciplines, including leading historical and social science sources; discusses the social and political factors that have affected the demographics of the workforce from the end of WWII to the present day; provides historical case studies on organizations that have sought to broaden participation in computing and the STEM disciplines; reviews the different approaches that have been applied to address underrepresentation, at the individual, system-wide, and pathway-focused level; profiles the colleges and universities that have been successful in opening up computer science or engineering to female students; describes the impact of individual change-agents as well as whole organizations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319796819
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	06/01/2018
Series:	History of Computing
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2016
Pages:	271
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Introduction.- Part I: Digest of Relevant Literatures.- Opening STEM Careers to Women.- Opening STEM Careers to African Americans.- Opening STEM Careers to Hispanics.- Opening STEM Careers to American Indians.- Part II: Case Studies.- Organizations That Help Women to Build STEM Careers.- Organizations That Help Underrepresented Minorities to Build STEM Careers.- Organizations That Help Women Build Computing Careers.- Organizations That Help Underrepresented Minorities Build Computing Careers.- Building Educational Infrastructures for Broadening Participation in Computing.

Editorial Reviews

Aspray (Univ. of Colorado Boulder), a well-known historian of the computer, aims to encourage primary source research into the participation and contributions of women, African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians. … Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.” (A. K. Ackerberg-Hastings, Choice, Vol. 54 (6), February, 2017)

From the Publisher