Women in computing

Women in computing are contributors to the development, study, and practice of computing, from early calculation and programming to contemporary research and industry.

Ada Lovelace: A nineteenth-century mathematician who published an influential account of Charles Babbage’s proposed Analytical Engine. Her notes described how a machine could manipulate symbols, not only numbers.
ENIAC programmers: Six women who programmed the ENIAC, one of the first general-purpose electronic digital computers. Their programming work helped establish techniques later associated with software engineering.
Gender bias in artificial intelligence: Systematic differences in AI systems’ outcomes associated with gender or gendered assumptions. Underrepresentation among system designers can leave gendered assumptions unchallenged.
Gender segregation in computing: The unequal distribution of women and men across computing roles, specialties, or levels of seniority. Participation differs not only in total numbers but also across jobs and leadership levels.
Grace Hopper: An American computer scientist and naval officer who helped develop early compilers and COBOL. Her compiler work helped make programming languages more accessible.
Harvard Computers: A group of women hired at Harvard College Observatory to perform astronomical calculations and analyze data. Their work shows how women’s computational labor predated electronic computers.
Gender pay gap in technology: The difference in average earnings between women and men working in technology occupations. Pay disparities affect women’s retention and advancement in computing careers.
Gender discrimination in the workplace: Unfair treatment in employment based on gender, including hiring, pay, promotion, or working conditions. It distinguishes institutional barriers from differences in individual interest or preparation.
Katherine Johnson: An American mathematician whose calculations supported NASA spaceflight missions. Her trajectory calculations show women’s contributions to computational work before electronic computers became widespread.
Women mathematicians in World War II: Women who performed mathematical and computational work for wartime research and military operations. Wartime demand expanded women’s roles in calculation and early computer programming.

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