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Despite the increasing number of women receiving bachelor’s degrees in computing (i.e., Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, etc.), a closer look reveals that the percentage of Black women in computing has significantly dropped in recent years, highlighting the underrepresentation of Black women and its negative impact on broadening participation in the field of computing. The literature reveals that several K-16 interventions have been designed to increase the representation of Black women and girls in computing. Despite these best efforts, the needle seems to have barely moved in increasing the representation or the retention of Black women in computing. Instead, the primary goals have been to recruit and retain women in the CS pipeline using gender-focused efforts intended to increase the number of women who also identify as members of racialized groups. However, these gender-focused efforts have fallen short of increasing the number of Black women in computing because they fail to acknowledge or appreciate how intersectionality (the overlapping social constructs of gender, race, ethnicity, class, etc.) has shaped the lived experiences of Black women navigating the computing pipeline. Without honest dialogue about how power operates in the field of computing, the push for racial equality and social justice in CS education remains an elusive goal. Leveraging intersectionality as a critical framework to address systemic oppression (i.e., racism, gender discrimination, power, and privilege), we interview 24 Black women in different phases of the computing pipeline about their experiences navigating the field of computing. An intersectional analysis of Black women’s experiences reveals that CS education consists of saturated sites of violence in which interconnected systems of power converge to enact oppression. Findings reveal three primary saturated sites of violence within CS education: (1) traditional K-12 classrooms; (2) predominantly White institutions; and (3) internships as supplementary learning experiences. We conclude the article with implications for how the field of CS education can begin to address racial inequality that negatively impacts Black girls and women, thus contributing to a more equitable and socially just field of study that benefits all students.
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To Code-Switch or Not to Code-Switch: The Psychosocial Ramifications of Being Resilient Black Women Engineering and Computing Doctoral Students
This qualitative study explored how 21 Black women enrolled in engineering and computing doctoral programs characterize and understand how they code-switch. We define code-switching as when Black women consciously or unconsciously modify the way they behave in engineering and computing environments to dissociate themselves from negative stereotypes held against their intersectional identities across gender and race. Utilizing Black feminist thought (BFT) as a theoretical framework, this study found that Black women experienced a host of detrimental challenges. Due to their environ- ments, participants modified how they dressed and spoke in a conscious attempt to avoid reinforcing negative stereotypes held against Black women (i.e., the angry Black woman, the incompetent Black woman scientist, nega- tive connotations of Black sounding names, and respectability politics of Black womanhood) and instead dispel these myths. To cope with the effects of code-switching, Black women relied heavily on their spirituality and identifying ways to reaffirm their Blackness. The implications of the findings indicate that Black women experience stress due to code-switching because of the stereotypes they encounter at the intersection of their gender and race.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2211300
- PAR ID:
- 10488050
- Publisher / Repository:
- Sociological Focus
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sociological Focus
- Volume:
- 55
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0038-0237
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 130 to 150
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2022.2054482
