Game  Changers  for  Women  in  CS:    Lessons  Learned  from  Turkey  

Turkish  Women  in  Compu9ng  (TWIC)  Three  Founding  Ph.Ds  in  CS  

Ümit  Yalçınalp,  Gökçen  Çilingir,  Gülüstan  Doğan  

               Turkish  Women  in  Compu9ng  

!  An  Anita  Borg  Ins9tute  Community  

!  Global  Presence    

!  Independent  (not  9ed  to  government,  school,  company,  sponsorship,  etc.)  

!  Has  Sister  community  @Facebook:    Golden  Girls  of  Computer  Science,    1981-­‐86  female  grads  of  Comp  Eng  &  Sci  Middle  East  Technical  University,  Turkey    

Why  we  founded  TWIC  

At  one  Grace  Hopper  Conference  some  of  us        wondered:  

!  “Why  is  the  environment  different  in  US?”    

!  “How  can  we  find/help/support  each  through        stages  of  our  careers?”    

!  “Can  we  unite  CS  graduates  abroad  and  in            Turkey?”  

Bombarded  by  News  about    Women  in  Tech  !  

From  Huffington  Post  March  4  

From  Huffington  Post  March  4  

From  Huffington  Post  March  4  

News  are  about  

!  #  of  Women  are  declining  in  compu9ng  and  STEM  

!  Are  there  inherent  differences  between  Men  and  Women’s  capabili9es?  

!  Hos9lity  exists  in  STEM  environments!  

!  Changing  the  game  for  women  is  Needed!    

Changing  the  game  for  Women…  

!  Entering  in  the  field  !  Gekng  hired  

!  Being  Inspired/Supported  !  Staying  in  the  field  

Why  our  experience  is  so  different?  

What  can  be  learned  from  other  countries  such  as  Turkey  and  case  studies?    

Let’s  start  with  Gekng  into  the  Field…  

Where  our  percep9ons  differ…  

!  Girls  excel  in  Science  &  Math  in  High  School  !  Girls  are  alracted  to  undergrad  degrees  in  CS  and  beyond  (MS.,  Ph.D)  

!  The  trend  is  increasing,  not  decreasing  !  Larger  percentage  of  women  working  in  the  field  and  pursuing  graduate  studies  

As  Scien9sts,  we  did  a  bit  of  research  on…  

!  Data  about  women  gekng  into  the  field,  par9cularly  in  CS    departments  

!  Research  that  inves9gated  similar  ques9ons    

hlp://farm8.sta9cflickr.com/7452/10768099944_517989996c_d.jpg  

Entering  the  Field  

!  Na9onwide  Placement  Exam  !  1.8  Million  take  the  test  in  2013!    

Hypotheses:  Na9onal  Exam  as  Equalizer  

!  Eliminates  gender,  race,  and  similar  biases  from  applica9on  process  

!  Schools  accept  students  based  on  na9onal  ranking  

!  Exam’s  emphasis  is  on  mathema9cal,  analy9cal  ability  and  knowledge  

Hypotheses  con9nued  

!  Computer  Science  degree  is  extremely  popular  !  Clean  Work  Environment:  Office  

!  Great  Pay:  Students  start  working  while  in  school  !  Cool,  Pres9gious  and  Relevant  for  the  future  

! Medical  School  is  pursued  ayer  high  school  and  plays  an  important  role  in  choices  !  CS  is  a  strong  alterna9ve  to  not  choosing  medical  school  

Posi9ve  Effects  of  Environment  

!  Pres%ge:  Families  push  for  children  to  scien9fic  fields  (doctors,  engineers)  

!  Successful  girls  in  high  school  are  also  encouraged  towards  scien9fic  degrees  by  family  and/or  friends  

       Lets  look  at  some  numbers  

Sta9s9cs  from  OSYM  Placement  Exam  

0.00  

0.05  

0.10  

0.15  

0.20  

0.25  

0.30  

0.35  

1996   1997   1998   1999   2000   2001   2002   2003   2004   2005   2006   2007   2008   2009   2010   2011   2012   2013  

Female  ra%o  in  new  admissions  at  Computer  Science  departments  in  Turkey  (undergraduate)  

The  trend  con9nues  in  grad  degrees…  

0.00  

0.05  

0.10  

0.15  

0.20  

0.25  

0.30  

0.35  

1996   1997   1998   1999   2000   2001   2002   2003   2004   2005   2006   2007   2008   2009   2010   2011   2012   2013  

Female  ra%o  in  graduates  at  Computer  Science  departments    in  Turkey    (graduate  degrees)  

What  about  Female  Assistants  and  Faculty?    

0  

0.05  

0.1  

0.15  

0.2  

0.25  

0.3  

0.35  

1996  1997   1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004   2005  2006  2007   2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  

Female  ra%os  in  faculty  at  Computer  Science  departments  in  Turkey  

Faculty  total  

Research  assistants  

Middle  East  Technical  University:  Women  Undergrad  Ra9o  

0.000  

0.050  

0.100  

0.150  

0.200  

0.250  

2008   2009   2010   2011   2012   2013  

Bilkent  University:    Women  Undergrad  Ra9os  (Graduated)  

0  

0.05  

0.1  

0.15  

0.2  

0.25  

0.3  

0.35  

0.4  

1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  

Math  and  Science  Sta9s9cs  

0  

0.1  

0.2  

0.3  

0.4  

0.5  

0.6  

0.7  

1996   1997   1998   1999   2000   2001   2002   2003   2004   2005   2006   2007   2008   2009   2010   2011   2012   2013  

Female  ra%o  in  new  admissions  to  Mathema%cs  and  Natural  Sciences  departments  in  Turkey  (undergraduate)  

0  

0.2  

0.4  

0.6  

0.8  

Mathema9cs   Physics   Chemistry   Biology   Sta9s9cs   Astronomy  

Female  ra%o  in  new  admissions  in  2013    

USA  vs.  Turkey  

0.0  

5.0  

10.0  

15.0  

20.0  

25.0  

30.0  

35.0  

1996   1997   1998   1999   2000   2001   2002   2003   2004   2005   2006   2007   2008   2009   2010  

Percentage  of  females  pursuing  CS  undergraduate  degrees  

USA  

Turkey  

Important  Footnote  

No  extra  interven9on,  school,  adver9sement,  recrui9ng,  mentoring  tailored  SPECIFICALLY  toward  women  to  achieve  these  results  

Results:  

!  Interest  is  increasing  and  steady  ! More  dropouts  from  men  in  grad  degrees  due  to  military  service  postponement  

!  Encouraging  Numbers  for  women  in  STEM  ! Mathema9cs  and  Stazszcs  ~60%  !  !  Popularity(CS)  >  Popularity(Civil  Eng.)            Popularity(CS)  >  Popularity(Mechanical  Eng.)            Popularity(CS)  <  Popularity(Chemical  Eng.)  

Suppor9ng  Research*  

!  Survey  of  671  female  students  in  top  6  Turkish  universi9es    

!  Inves9gates  to  find  why  women  choose  engineering  !  Covers  STEM  fields  not  only  CS  

*  Smith,  Alice  E.,  and  Berna  Dengiz.  "Women  in  engineering  in  Turkey–a  large  scale  quan9ta9ve  and  qualita9ve  examina9on."  European  Journal  of  Engineering  Educa9on  35.1  (2010):  45-­‐57.  

Conclusion  &  Next  Steps  

!  Data  and  previous  research  support  our  hypotheses.    

!  A  large  scale  survey  to  assess  reasons  for  choosing  CS  careers  is  planned    

!  Publicity  &  Recrui9ng  new  members  will  con9nue  

       Join  Turkish  Women  in  Compu9ng  at  ABI  and            Facebook    

https://www.facebook.com/groups/303250353033495/        

Big  Thank  You!  

!  OSYM  for  sta9s9cs  !  Dept.  of  Computer  Engineering,  Bilkent  Uni  Prof.  Dr.  Altay  Guvenir  &    System  Analyst  Nazan  Ceran  Titrek  

!  Dept.  of  Computer  Engineering,  METU  Prof.  Dr.  Ferda  Alpaslan  

!  Golden  Girls  of  Computer  Science  where  a  lot  of  these  ideas  have  emerged  via  discussion