The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner v4

The Computer
Scientist and the
Cleaner
Ian Gent
University of St Andrews
This is a DRAFT talk, version 4
For more context please visit:
http://iangent.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-computer-scientist-and-cleaner.html
Wednesday, 9 October 13

... or ...

A short history of
sexism in St Andrews

The most important
problem for computing

If you’re not
uncomfortable for the
next few minutes this is
not a good talk

What is this talk, really?
A short talk about gender balance and equality in
computer science.

What is this talk, really?
Not an examinable part of CS1002 in a formal sense,
but something I think you should be exposed to

The Computer Scientist
and the Cleaner
• Let me tell you a story.
“The computer scientist and the cleaner had
a long and happy marriage. One of their few
arguments was when she forgot their
wedding anniversary. But their marriage was
strong and he forgave her.”

and the Cleaner
“One of their few arguments was when she
forgot their wedding anniversary.”
• Let me ask you a question.
• Who forgot the anniversary?
• Was it the computer scientist or the
cleaner?

and the Cleaner
“One of their few arguments was when she
forgot their wedding anniversary.”
• Let me ask Google a question.
• Who forgot the anniversary?
• Was it the computer scientist or the
cleaner?

C
Unmoderated image search for
“Computer Scientist”

Unmoderated image search for
“Cleaner”

Who forgot the
anniversary?
“The computer scientist and the cleaner had
a long and happy marriage. One of their few
arguments was when she forgot their
wedding anniversary. But their marriage was
strong and he forgave her.”
• Look inside your brain
• Did you think the woman was the
cleaner?

A short history of
sexism in St Andrews
• The University is 600 years old, yet ...
• Its ﬁrst female professor was a computer
scientist!
• Prof Ursula Martin CBE, now at QMUL
• Yes, a 600 year old University’s ﬁrst
female professor hasn’t retired yet!
• For 579 years we didn’t have a female
Prof
• Until 2004, the Rules of Golf for women
were made by a male only club in St
Andrews
• For 595 years we didn’t have a female
Principal
• Prof Louise Richardson

Gender Balance
CS1002
W
o
m
a
n
M
a
n

Gender Balance
CS Teaching Fellows
W
o
m
e
n
M
a
n

Gender Balance
CS Lecturers
W
o
m
e
n
M
e
n

Gender Balance
CS Senior Lecturers & Readers
W
o
m
e
n
M
e
n

Gender Balance
CS Professors
W
o
m
e
n
M
e
n

Let’s be clear...
• The University of St Andrews does not have
sexist hiring policies
• We have clear non-sexist hiring policies
• http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/hr/edi/inclusiverec/
• The gender balance in St Andrews CS
• reﬂects general imbalance in the discipline
• and it’s a big problem

Why the most important
problem?
Why should we have more women in CS?
I only know of two good reasons, but they
are overpoweringly good.
• It’s right
• Computer Science would be better

It’s Right
• If a woman doesn’t want to do CS, that’s ﬁne
• But ...
• CS is an incredibly rewarding discipline
• If a woman is put off CS they are potentially
missing out
• That is NOT ﬁne
• Everybody in CS is responsible for making
sure this doesn’t happen

Computer Science
Would Be Better
• “Computing's too important to be left to
men”
Karen Spärck Jones, 1935-2007
• Karen did a bit more than a cute quote
• She invented a key technique for internet
search ...
• ... 30 years before the World Wide Web
• Don’t throw away half the world’s talents!
Karen Spärck Jones, imageWikipedia

But is it a problem now?
• In the past this was a problem
• And it still is
• An almost random example
• Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor
male students
• Proceedings National Academy of
Science, USA, 2012
• http://www.pnas.org/content/early/
2012/09/14/1211286109
• The change from the past is that gender
biases are now subtle
In addition to determining whether faculty expressed a bias
against female students, we also sought to identify the processes
contributing to this bias. To do so, we investigated whether
faculty members’ perceptions of student competence would help
to explain why they would be less likely to hire a female (relative
to an identical male) student for a laboratory manager position.
Additionally, we examined the role of faculty members’ preex-
isting subtle bias against women. We reasoned that pervasive
cultural messages regarding women’s lack of competence in sci-
ence could lead faculty members to hold gender-biased attitudes
that might subtly affect their support for female (but not male)
science students. These generalized, subtly biased attitudes to-
ward women could impel faculty to judge equivalent students
differently as a function of their gender.
The present study sought to test for differences in faculty
perceptions and treatment of equally qualified men and women
pursuing careers in science and, if such a bias were discovered,
reveal its mechanisms and consequences within academic sci-
ence. We focused on hiring for a laboratory manager position as
the primary dependent variable of interest because it functions as
a professional launching pad for subsequent opportunities. As
secondary measures, which are related to hiring, we assessed: (i)
perceived student competence; (ii) salary offers, which reflect
the extent to which a student is valued for these competitive
positions; and (iii) the extent to which the student was viewed as
deserving of faculty mentoring.
Our hypotheses were that: Science faculty’s perceptions and
treatment of students would reveal a gender bias favoring male
students in perceptions of competence and hireability, salary
conferral, and willingness to mentor (hypothesis A); Faculty gen-
der would not influence this gender bias (hypothesis B); Hiring
These results support hypothesis A.
In support of hypothesis B, faculty gender did not affect bias
(Table 1). Tests of simple effects (all d < 0.33) indicated that
female faculty participants did not rate the female student as
more competent [t(62) = 0.06, P = 0.95] or hireable [t(62) = 0.41,
P = 0.69] than did male faculty. Female faculty also did not
offer more mentoring [t(62) = 0.29, P = 0.77] or a higher salary
[t(61) = 1.14, P = 0.26] to the female student than did their male
Fig. 1. Competence, hireability, and mentoring by student gender condition
(collapsed across faculty gender). All student gender differences are significant
(P < 0.001). Scales range from 1 to 7, with higher numbers reflecting a greater
extent of each variable. Error bars represent SEs. nmale student condition = 63,
nfemale student condition = 64.
2 of 6 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1211286109 Moss-Racusin et al.
• Male students were
ranked higher in
everything
• The only difference
between the male and
female students was the
names on CVs

The lowest difficulty
setting there is
John Scalzi, http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-
male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/
• It’s really hard for straight white men to
understand the problem
• sadly it’s really easy for women to
• John Scalzi came up with a brilliant analogy
• Being a straight white male is the lowest
difficulty setting there is in the game of life
“You can lose playing on the lowest difficulty
setting.The lowest difficulty setting is still the
easiest setting to win on.The player who
plays on the “Gay Minority Female” setting?
Hardcore.”

What can we do?
• We can’t change today the gender
imbalance
• We can make CS a much nicer place for
women to be
• We can do three simple things...

Three Simple Things
1. Don’t be a jerk to women in CS
2. Don’t use sexist language
3. Understand that it’s not you who decides
if you are doing 1 or 2.

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to disabled in CS
2. Don’t use ableist language

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to non-whites in CS
2. Don’t use racist language

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to people from deprived
backgrounds in CS
2. Don’t use classist language

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to mentally ill people in
CS
2. Don’t use mentalist language

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to transgendered people
in CS
2. Don’t use cissexist language

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to older people in CS
2. Don’t use ageist language

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to gay people in CS
2. Don’t use homophobic language

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to religious people in CS
2. Don’t use religionist language

Not just women
1. Don’t be a jerk to irreligious people in
CS
2. Don’t use religionist language

None of the above?
• Even if it was ok to be a jerk to ...
• Straight white privileged non-disabled non-mentally-ill
cisgendered male of about your age and your religion
• (it’s not ok to be a jerk to them)
• How do you know they’re all those things?
• e.g. I’m obviously older than you...
• is it so obvious I’m on antidepressants?
• http://www.depressedacademics.blogspot.com

Back to Women
• Going to return to focus on women
• Not because other groups are not
important
• Just to make it easier to talk speciﬁcally

1. Don’t be a jerk
• This is really simple to understand
• Unfortunately being a jerk to women in CS is
really widespread
• I’m not going to provide examples
• it would take too long
• seriously, it’s almost unimaginable how long it
would take

2. Don’t use sexist
language
• I mean this in two ways
• Don’t use language that implies CS people are men
• leads to the Computer Scientist and the
Cleaner
• leads to females feeling excluded
• and subtle biases as in the PNAS paper
• Don’t engage in sexist “banter”

3.You don’t get to
decide...
3. Understand that it’s not you who decides if you are doing 1 or 2.
• This is really hard to understand
• Maybe you think somebody shouldn’t be offended when they tell
you they are
• Tough! Guess what, they were offended!
• You only have two options
• “I’m sorry, but I deeply believe that X is true so I stand by
what I said”
• “I’m sorry, I’ll try harder not to say things like that in future”
• Never say “Hey, it’s only banter”

It’s not “banter”
• "Banter" is apparently a free pass: I can insult you, but you're not
allowed to be insulted, because "it's only banter". I can be
obscene, but you can't be offended, because "it's only banter".
No. If you're a grown-up, you know that your offensiveness may
offend, and you either accept that or you apologise and don't do
it again. Saying "it's only banter" makes you not only an idiot, but
an idiot who can't take responsibility for his own jokes.
Tom Chivers,
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100141906/
if-you-like-banter-you-are-an-idiot/

The Hofstadter Analogy
• If you’re not sure if language is sexist...
• ... swap men and women for black and white
• If the result is obviously racist
• ... the original was probably sexist ...
• unless there’s some very good reason the analogy doesn’t work
• E.g. A male only club made the rules of golf, including for women
• Would it have been ok that a white only club made the rules of
golf, including the rules for black people?
• I learnt this from:
• “A person paper on the purity of language”, Doug Hofstadter
• http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/purity.html

Allies
• We need male computer scientists to be
“Allies”
• Men who think it’s important that both
women and men are treated right in
Computer Science
• http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Allies

Links and Resources
• School of Computer Science, Women in Computing Group
• self-organised, unofﬁcial
• University Policies and Links
• Advice and Support Centre
• University Harrassment and Bullying Policy
• Student Non-academic Misconduct Policy
• Disability Equality Scheme
• Policy on Trans Students & Staff
• How to Lodge a Complaint

Do not get me wrong...
Whether you are disadvantaged or privileged or both...
I want you to have a fabulous time at St Andrews
I want you to get a ﬁrst
I want you to have an amazing career in or out of computing
I want the same for every member of groups at a disadvantage
And I want us all to work towards them not being at a disadvantage

The Computer Scientist and the Cleaner v4

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