Books Explaining the Gender Gap in Software Engineering
by Brian
Categories:
CTO,
Engineering Manager,
Tech Recruiter
Summary
Lots of people like to pontificate on the reasons we don’t see more women in software development. But these authors have actually done the research and through these books I gained a much deeper understanding of the issues causing the software gender gap.
Unlocking the Clubhouse
Women in Computing
by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher, Researchers at Carnegie Mellon
Recommended: 9 / 10
Unlocking the Clubhouse offers a comprehensive view of our computer science education system, which acts as a top-of-funnel limiting factor to closing the gender gap. Excellent read.
Brotopia
Breaking Up the Boys Club of Silicon Valley
by Emily Chang, Journalist; Anchor and Executive Producer of Bloomberg Technology
Recommended: 8 / 10
Prior to reading Brotopia, I thought about the gender gap in software as a matter of barriers to entry.
But Brotopia really shines light on the churn problem, covering why and how women leave technology fields at much higher rates than men.
Lifting the Barriers
600 Strategies that REALLY WORK to Increase Girls' Participation in Science, Mathematics and Computers
by Jo Sanders
Recommended: 6 / 10
Lifting the Barriers is a solid complementary book to Unlocking the Clubhouse. This book contains a long list of ideas to get K-12 girls interested in and involved with programming.
Women in Tech
Take Your Career to the Next Level
by Tarah Wheeler
Recommended: 5 / 10
While I didn’t love Women in Tech, I did find some nuggets of insight absolutely worth reading and considering. Most notably, the author covers in detail what it’s like to interview and join a software company as a woman, highlighting barriers that many men simply don’t think about.
