The gender divide in pursuing degrees in computer science is on the rise, a new report finds, spurring some advocates to consider steps needed to get more females engaged in the field.
At the same time, the report from Change the Equation, a Washington-based coalition of business leaders promoting improved STEM education, concludes that American universities are not producing enough graduates—male or female—to fill the job demands in the computing field.
It notes that women earned just 18 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in computing in 2012, down from 27 percent about a decade earlier.
The report also estimates that, while the U.S. market on average has 120,000 job openings in the computing field, universities only awarded about 70,000 degrees in 2012.
