Equity of Access and Diversity in the Industry

The problem of lack of diversity in computer science is self-compounding. In its 2020 CS for All call for proposals, the NSF said that “underrepresented groups in CS include women, minorities (e.g., African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders), students with disabilities, English language learners, and students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.” In the same 2016 Gallup study, a majority of teachers identified both a lack of role models and a lack of exposure as reasons why women and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in computer science. The study found that a greater proportion of male students than female students reported interest in computer science, as well as confidence in their ability to learn it. This could be because male students were also found to be more likely to receive encouragement from both parents and teachers to pursue computer science and to observe “computer science people” in media that are like themselves.

Black and Hispanic students are more interested in computer science than their white classmates, but are less likely to have a parent or adult relative in the computer science or technology fields and therefore less likely to have role models involved in computer science. Black and Hispanic students are also less likely than their White classmates to use a computer at home. This suggests to us that the lack of diversity in computer science is not due to lack of interest, but rather to lack of exposure and access. A similar report published a year earlier confirms that three fourths of high schools did not offer any classes that incorporate computer programming, and that Black and Hispanic students are less likely to attend a school that offers classes that incorporate computer programming.