Tech Ties: Black Women’s Pathways to Computer Science Majors

• In Event: 20280 - College-to-Career Pathways

Abstract

This paper examines the experiences of Black women majoring in computing degree programs, focusing on the disparity in network support from pre-college to college environments. Harnessing survey responses and interviews with Black women college students, we find that Black women benefit from robust pre-college support systems, grounded in non-school related organizational ties, which help to counteract experiences of marginalization in stem within school settings. Once in college, Black women experience constrained interactions with faculty and peers and funneling away from traditional computing disciplines. We describe this process of networks diminishing as social network attrition. The weakening and erosion of previously relied upon ties and the inability to build up a similar robust network of ties may deepen disparities for Black women in computing.

Authors

• Bailey A. Brown, Spelman College

• Celeste Nichole Lee, Spelman College