In school and at home, women are raised to see computers and technology as the domain of males. The maleness of the computer world is something that gets programmed into female minds beginning in childhood and reinforced well into adulthood. Not only are the games oriented to boys, but computers at home are more likely to be found in a boy's room and more likely to be used by boys and their fathers. Despite these signals, girls and boys perform equally in math, science and computer usage until about the fifth or sixth grade. By graduation, the gender gap has been etched into the lives of high school students.
College is no different.
National Science Foundation statistics indicate that men receive 75 percent of all computer science degrees. That, in turn, refuels the cycle for another generation of young women growing up without female mentors in teaching positions. Some efforts are being made to close the gender gap.