Nothing is Wrong

`Nothing is Wrong that isn't Wrong Already`

Some people, including women, believe that there is nothing special about computer science (or the sciences in general) that makes it harder for women to stay interested. In fact, here at Swarthmore, there are female students who view the sciences this way. In collecting data for a study to determine the feasibility of a "women in science" residence, Beth Tsai received replies indicating that some women here do not want "special treatment." A few excerpts follow: "What kind of impression will all the humanities people get of the sciences if it looks like women in the sciences need special living accomodations? Won't that just make the sciences more mysterious (since fewer non-science people will actually see their roommate prepping labs and doing data analysis) and serve to *promote* the belief that science is hard and scary in ways that English and econ aren't?" "Why should women scientists receive more help than other women at the college? If the answer is, 'Becasue they are in the minority and the discipline caters to men,' should the same priveledges be awarded to men in the predominantly female and overwhelmingly feminist English department?" "I haven't really especially had any issues being a woman in science. CS is predominantly male, but I have a lot of friends in the department, so it's all good, and being the token female in my 25-person [cs class] was amusing, but gender-related anxiety was a non-issue." "The notion that women need a support group more than male scientists do is sexist and will discourage women from being scientists in the long run. ...allowing women to separate themselves from men in the sciences is simply perpetuating the stereotype that women are weaker in science, which is a bad thing to suggest!" This sentiment seems to be widely recognized as an existing feeling. In "Building the Digital Systerhood," an interview with Systers and IWT founder Anita Borg, the interviewer, Lakshmi Chaudhry, mentions that, "One of the views of these declining numbers could be that girls and women are just not interested in math and the sciences." (see Lakshmi Chaudhry's "Building the Digital Systerhood" in Wired Online) Borg goes on to counter this argument, but the point is that it exists in the public consciousness.