2 astx hasmik gharibyan biography

Gender Gap in Computer Science: Studying Its Absence in One Former Soviet Republic

Introduction

It is no secret that women in the United States avoid Computer Science (CS) as a career choice.

2 astx hasmik gharibyan biography

This is a big problem not only in the USA, but in numerous other countries around the world. However, there are countries – such as some of the republics of the former Soviet Union – where this problem never existed. For example, in the Computer Science department of Yerevan State University, Republic of Armenia, throughout all of the 1980s and 90s the percentage of women never fell below 75% (until mid 1990s this was the only CS program in Armenia and contained around 1,200 majors).

The situation was similar in most of the soviet republics. The soviet society, culture, and educational system in many ways are quite different from the USA’s and therefore may contain factors that positively affect women and attract them to CS.

This motivated us to start an international investigation (in 2005)