Designing,
implementing, debugging, and optimizing are what computer scientists
do. It requires a lot of patience and determination to remain focused on projects when they keep you in your workstation for a number of hours. It is very difficult to handle this pressure, especially for women, who generally need a social life. I don't mean
that women lack focus, but they generally like social interactions
also. Another important thing which has kept women away from computer
science is computer games. Game makers have focussed on targeting their games towards
men. Despite attempts of some companies to create computer games for
women, they have never been hugely successful at attracting women in
computer games. This notion has created male dominance in computer
science. But these notions about computer science have to change to attract more women towards this major.
I think computer science is plenty social enough for most women, but people don't realize how social it is until they get into higher level classes and the industry where almost everything is done in groups and teams. Maybe introducing more group projects into lower level CS classes would entice more girls into the major.
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