Chin: Not Just the Numbers
Despite being an English major, I am concerned about the lack of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Statistics from the National Student Clearinghouse reveal not only that the number of women with bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering disciplines is low, but that it has in fact decreased since 2004. Most drastically, women received only 23 percent of computer science degrees in 2004, while in 2014 this number fell to 18 percent. Coincidentally, I happen to be taking a statistics class that involves a little bit of computer science, which allows me some personal insight as to why this problem exists. After all, why don’t women just major in science? There’s no legal or written boundary stopping them.