| Highlights
Do you know the names of the people who programmed the first electronic computer? Have you heard the Name Betty Snyder? How about Jean Bartik, Marlyn Meltzer, Ruth Teitelbaum, Kay Antonelli, and Frances Spence… these six women were the first programmers, and I do not mean the first women programmers, they were the first programmers, period, who programmed "The ENIAC" - the world's first electronic computer, which weighed 30 tons and filled a 30-by-50-foot room.
These women set a great precedence. However, the following is true today...
- Only 17 percent of computer science undergrads are women.
- Women hold roughly 20 percent of jobs in the lucrative high-tech sector.
- Women receive less than 28% of the computer science bachelor's degrees, which is actually down from 37% in 1984.
- Of those taking computer science advanced placement test, only 1 in 6 are girls.
- Computer science is the only field in which women's participation has actually decreased over time
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