Online Distance Learning Forum

The UK technology news is fall of talk of the crisis of under-representation of women in IT and computer science. Harvard University President Lawrence Summers recently for suggested that the difference between male and female brains make it hard for women to understand science, and that is one reason for the low number of women in computer science jobs. This claim may seem outrageous to many, but the suggestion does not seem so far-fetched in my house.

My husband is an IT consultant. I am a writer. I am fascinated by areas of technology, but only as a consumer. I see this behavior mirrored already in my six year old daughter, while my eight year old son likes to take things apart and put them back together. The truth is, however, that plenty of girls are interested in IT, but they keep hitting that old glass ceilign. Could online computer science degrees help redress these entrenched attitudes?

It's not often that Angelina Jolie is upstaged, but even she could not quite measure up to her virtual character Lara Croft. For women trying to make a name for themselves in computer science jobs, it may well seem that Lara Croft is destined to always be the most famous female in IT. As in the masculine world of the MBA, could online degrees in computer science make a difference?

According to the Computer Research Association, women's interest in computer science jobs fell 80 percent between 1998 and 2004, and 93 percent since its peak in 1982. So what are the reasons for this? Research suggests that male and female brains are different, but science and history has shown women can compete in any area where they are offered an equal footing. So is it the computer science jobs that are letting women down?

Analysts at the Labor Department's Women’s Bureau reported in 2003 that men held 69.5 percent of the nation’s 347,000 jobs in managing computer and information systems. Kara Helander, western region vice president at Catalyst, a New York-based nonprofit organization that advocates for the advancement of women in corporations, states that women are seriously underrepresented among corporate officers in computer science jobs. Her main reason is the exclusionary culture and the long hours. There is simply very little room for a woman who has family commitments. Lower down the scale, part-time computer science jobs are in short supply. So is it all about babies then?

It seems bizarre to me that IT - this most modern of modern technologies, should have such old-fashioned attitudes. Not all women stay at home with their children so this, in itself, is not reason enough to exclude them from computer science jobs in the 21st century. Online working offers another alternative. But what if a woman has difficulty with a computer science degree in the first place? This is where online study could help.

Maribel Gonzalez, a high-flying math scholar at high school, found herself quitting her computer science degree after a year. She believed that the masculine, sink or swim style of programming teaching did not suit her. An online computer science degree could offer a temporary answer to this massive problem. Male and female brains are different, as are our manners of assimilating knowledge. An online computer science degree would have allowed Maribel to learn at her own pace and in her own way. As it is, Maribel became a teacher, a traditionally more fitting job for a woman.

Both the US and UK governments have recognized that there must be changes to increase the chances for women in computer science jobs. Online degrees and working must play a part in this. Not all woman trawl the Internet just for the latest news on Angelina Jolie. And there are at least as many men on there looking for pictures.If you are a woman out there looking into online computer science degrees, take comfort from this, and the fact that you may be getting the best of the medium. All you men out there interested in computer science jobs watch out!