Women and Men in Computer Science: Geeky Proclivities, College Rank, and Gender in Korea

Abstract

The underrepresentation of women in computer science (CS) is an extensively reported phenomenon. The institutional culture of “geek” masculinity has been recognized as one of the important factors in explaining women’s avoidance of CS in Western contexts. We conducted a survey and in-depth interviews to examine how Korean CS majors interpret their departmental culture and form a sense of belonging. To summarize our findings, Korean students’ identification of themselves with geekiness was associated with university prestige more frequently than with gender. The geek identities and practices often associated with masculinity in Western contexts are related to university prestige in Korea. We do not argue that gender is irrelevant in constructing students’ practices and identities in CS. Instead, we argue that it is important to analyze how gender appears more or less noticeably in the discursive construction of CS professional identities depending on contexts. This study calls for more careful attention to the processes through which the constructed symbolic hierarchies of geek over nongeek are mediated by unequal structures, including but not limited to gender, in CS. Our findings suggest that gendering in and of CS is more complicated than the dichotomy of male-technical versus female-social stereotypes.

Abstract

컴퓨터과학에서 여성의 과소 대표는 광범위하게 보고된 현상이다. ‘기크(geek)’ 남성성이 지배하는 컴퓨터과학의 제도적 문화는 그동안 서구의 맥락에서 여성이 컴퓨터과학을 기피하는 원인을 설명하는 주요한 요소 중 하나로 인식되었다. 본 연구는 설문 조사와 심층 인터뷰를 통해 한국의 컴퓨터과학 전공자들이 어떻게 자신의 학과 문화를 해석하고 소속감을 갖게 되는지를 살펴 보았다. 연구 결과를 요약하면 한국의 대학생들이 기크와 자신을 동일시하는 정도는 젠더보다도 대학의 명성과 자주 관련되는 것으로 나타났다. 그동안 서구의 선행 연구에서 ‘남성성’과 관련된 것으로 보고되었던 기크 성향과 수행이, 한국에서는 대학의 명성과 유의미한 연관을 나타낸 것이다. 그러나 본 연구가 강조하는 바는, 그동안 알려진 바와 달리 젠더가 컴퓨터과학 전공 학생의 수행 또는 정체성 구성과 무관하다는 것이 아니다. 오히려 본 연구는 컴퓨터과학 전문가의 담론적 정체성 구성에서 젠더가 더 명백하거나 덜 명백한 것으로 발견되는 차이에 주목하여, 이 차이를 만들어내는 특수한 맥락—예컨대 한국의 대학간 위계—을 주요한 분석 지점으로서 지적한다. 다시 말해 본 연구는 기크 대 비기크 (non-geek) 사이에 구성된 상징적 위계가 불평등한 구조적 요인에 의해 매개되는 과정에서 컴퓨터과학 내부의 성비와 같은 젠더 불평등 이외에도 어떤 다른 요소가 교차적으로 작용할 수 있는지에 대해 더 주의 깊은 관심을 기울일 필요가 있음을 주장한다. 본 연구의 결과는 컴퓨터과학의 구성원 정체성과 조직 문화가 젠더와 상호작용하는 양상이, 서구의 공학자 정체성 연구가 비판적 분석의 대상으로 제시해왔던 기술적인 남성 대 사회적인 여성의 이분법보다 복잡함을 밝히고 있다.

• gender inclusion in engineering
• computer science
• educational stratification
• engineering identity
• gender identity

Keywords:

• 젠더
• 공학자 정체성
• 컴퓨터과학
• 대학

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean government (NRF-2014S1A5A8019530). Above all, we thank our collaborators, Gi-jeong Kim, Aeran Kim, and Do-yeon Lim, for their enthusiastic cooperation. We also thank Woochang Lee, Kyonghee Han, Moonhee Choi, Sun Hee Yoon, So Yeon Leem, Tae-Ho Kim, Joon Young Jung, Hyungsub Choi, Hee-Je Bak, Young Hee Lee, Sungsoo Song, Adrian Cruz, and Zeungnam Bien for sharing their valuable academic insights during this research. The Korean Center for Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology and the Korea Federation of Women’s Science and Technology Association provided funding and seminar opportunities for important steps toward this article. The authors appreciate the useful comments from the editor and referees. Youngju Cho and Hyomin Kim are the lead authors for this article.

Notes

¹ Studies on geek identities and masculinity extend feminist technology studies. That literature has emphasized the historical and cultural processes associating masculine values with technology (Faulkner 2001; Lohan 2000; Wajcman 1991, 2000). For instance, in architectural engineering, hands-on practice for building design is associated with masculinity, while simultaneously it is considered to be an important and “real” part of engineering. In contrast, communication with clients and project management are regarded as a supplementary, feminine, “social” part of engineering (Faulkner 2007). Thus, feminist technology studies provide a critical view of the processes through which technology is laden with dichotomously gendered symbols and how the mastery of certain technical skills such as computer programming becomes symbolically associated with masculinity.

⁴ We also conducted thirty-six preliminary interviews with twenty-three men and thirteen women in Korean CS departments and IT companies to see whether Korean CS majors talk about geek traits similarly as discussed in (mainly) Western literature. Our interviewees frequently mentioned these five traits as traits of technically oriented CS majors.

⁵ According to the 2015 survey, there are 189 four-year colleges in Korea. Although the exact average examination score for each university entrance exam is not available, the estimated minimum score for each department in each university is published every year by private education companies, which gives us the estimation of university prestige.

⁶ As noted above, a chi-square test for independence enables us to conclude that when only college rank is associated with differences in students’ average score, the association is not explained by gender.

⁷ Pearson correlation tests showed no statistically significant association between the survey question “I find the classroom climate in CS asocial and unfriendly” and any of the three questions regarding self-confidence.

⁸ Some geeky proclivities, such as tendencies to value peer interactions for learning and to study CS as fun seeking, were associated more with men than with women. Again, we do not aim to argue that gender is insignificant in the construction of CS practices and identities in Korea. Instead, we call attention to the context of university prestige as an important factor in Korean students’ identification with geekiness.

⁹ The way gendering of CS takes shape depends on local contexts and thus complicates the binary understanding of geeky males versus social females has been recently noted by Lagesen (2016), with emphases on ethnicities, professionalizations, policies, and spatial concerns. Our study adds the necessity of including high-ranked universities as a site to produce geeky behaviors as norms for both male and female students in CS.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hyomin Kim

Hyomin Kim received her PhD in sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently assistant professor in the Division of General Studies at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea. Her research examines how inequalities are politicized and depoliticized through science and technology.

Youngju Cho

Youngju Cho is the SW education research professor of the SW Convergence Education Institute at Chosun University and is a head researcher of an annex research institute owned by the SCG corporation. She received her master’s degree and PhD both in electronic calculation from Chosun University, specializing in information techologies, education, and mobile ad hoc networks. Her interests include network security, Internet of things, information protection, mobile ad hoc networks, Internet ethics, VR, and AR.

Sungeun Kim

Sungeun Kim is a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. His research focuses on the formation, maintenance, and destruction of sociotechnical infrastructures.

Hye-Suk Kim

Hye-Suk Kim is a lecturer in the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Chonnam National University, where she received her MD and PhD degrees in computer science. Her current research interests include development of software education, Internet of things, multimedia, and image processing.