The computer science department at the UT Austin tries to combat gender disparity.

The University of Texas at Austin created the Turing Scholars program in 2002 to give high-achieving computer science students a more rigorous course load as well as extensive networking and job opportunities. 2019’s computer science honors cohort has eight women out of more than 45 students.

“Our percentage of women is not as high as we would like, but it has been climbing slowly,” Calvin Lin, Turing Scholars Director and computer science professor at UT Austin said. “One issue we face is we don’t know exactly what admissions is doing. But we have some hints that maybe they’re unknowingly perpetuating the stereotype.”

In 1990, 35% of people with a career in computer science were female — by 2014 it dropped to 18% according to research by Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization that aims to close the gender gap in the Computer Science field.

“Nowadays, there’s almost always somebody who has been playing with computers since they were three or four, and they intimidate everybody else,” Lin said. “Those people who do that tend to be male, and either Asian or white. I think (the community) can certainly be better, but we’re working on it.”

Gender disparity in computer science does not just exist at the UT. According to National Public Radio, the decline in women in the professional computer science field started soon after personal computers became more common in American homes in the 1980s. However, Lin said there’s hope in the fact that the graduation rates between male and female computer science majors are similar.

“Our graduation rates are almost identical across gender. That’s something unique. I don’t know of any other school that’s like that in the U.S.,” Lin said. “I think this incoming class is maybe 25% women. That’s better (than the national average).”

Anisha Bagaria, a computer science freshman and Turing Scholar said she notices the gender disparity in her classes but doesn’t let it intimidate her.

“I definitely feel like there is a disparity in terms of preparedness. I feel like there are some guys who like to brag about how much experience they have,” Bagaria said. “At the beginning that was kind of tough, but I’ve gotten used to it and now it’s better.”

For other women in the program, coming to classes where the students were mostly male was a big adjustment.

“I had to start sitting in the front row because I hated sitting anywhere where I could see what the class composition was,” a female 21-year-old computer science and math major who chose to remain anonymous said. “I found myself over prepping for the class and asking questions I already knew the answer to. That level of comfort was something I had to develop over the course of the year.” 

Since 2010, more students each year are applying to UT’s computer science program. Competition for both the major and the honors program is becoming more intense and the admission rate is dropping according to research by Tex Admissions, an independent college consulting firm that specializes in undergraduate admissions at UT.

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t supposed to be,” Bagaria said. “If (admissions) were trying to make it where there would be the same amount of girls and guys then maybe I could think ‘I must be here because they need girls,’ but because there is such a disparity that means like there’s a reason that the people here were chosen.”

Anonymous transferred into the program after adding computer science on top of her math major during her freshman year. She said the application process was difficult, but the difficulty was not limited to the program itself.

“Especially when I got into Turing, I was explicitly told things like: ‘well, you probably only got in because you’re a woman.’” Anonymous said. “It’s also reinforced somewhat culturally. There’s impostor syndrome in the sense of doubt about whether you deserve your success.”

Impostor syndrome is the inability to believe that one’s successes are well-earned or deserved and it affects many college students, including women in computer science, first-generation college students and students who are a part of a racial minority. While it is more prevalent in those groups, anyone can feel impostor syndrome.

“Some of the girls got really prestigious internships last year. And then you hear some of the guys saying things like: ‘only girls got internships with this company, did they deserve it?”’ Anonymous said. “They’re really f-cking smart. So let’s go with ‘yes, they do deserve it.’”

The College of Natural Sciences is making various efforts to increase diversity within its majors, including a committee of diversity and inclusion, which Lin is the chair of.

“This is not 100% official, but we’re trying to get money to allow more women on campus who are not CS majors to take some CS courses,” Lin said. “We’ve got some women that are doing amazing stuff, but we’d love to have more.”