Inspiring and enabling more women to choose careers in information technology is a compelling solution for the nation?s innovation, global competitiveness, and workforce sustainability. Yet realizing the contributions of women depends on overcoming the complex of enduring social and cultural processes that limit their participation in computing. Supply-side factors affect the number of girls and women interested in learning about computing or pursuing an IT career. Demand-side factors reduce the effectiveness of organizational efforts to attract and retain women. In addition, the broad influence of cultural stereotypes about gender and technology suggest to women and those who influence them that they are less likely than men to have talent or interest in creating computing technology. These stereotypes lead girls, parents, counselors, and educators to overlook or reject computing as a career and to ignore the educational system that reinforces the problem. The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) was formed three years ago to address these issues in an innovative and systematic way.
In its first three years, NCWIT has established an alliance-based infrastructure with the goal of uniting all current efforts, accelerating their progress, and extending their reach. NCWIT now seeks extension funding to drive the utilization of this national infrastructure. NCWIT comprises more than 100 prominent corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations cooperating to increase women's participation in information technology (IT). Four alliances address IT reform along the entire educational and career pipeline, with programs in K-12 education, college-level outreach and curriculum reform, corporate recruitment and retention, and entrepreneurial ventures. Alliance members share their reform efforts, learn about and pilot best practices, recycle what works and discard what does not, influence policy, participate in IT image and reform campaigns, and serve as local change agents. National, bi-annual NCWIT workshops address topics such as innovation, diversity, K-12 education, and promising practices focused on recruiting, retaining, and advancing women in IT. Top-notch materials and resources give people the tools to raise awareness within their organizations, reach out to targeted populations, implement and evaluate reforms, and share their results. NCWIT is also actively collaborating with several other high-profile organizations to improve the public image of computing using a research-driven marketing campaign. Extensive, ongoing internal and external evaluation results in refinement of NCWIT methods and efforts and has resulted in a culture of introspection and self-analysis.
This project is uniquely situated for successfully overcoming the complex and lingering conditions that hinder women?s participation in computing. The NCWIT infrastructure is in place, alliances are growing, and alliance members are eager to implement interventions in their local organizations and share results with the national community. NCWIT has built a robust and highly-respected effort that has engaged the broad computing community, forming a culture based on evidence-based practices. NCWIT is the only organization creating a national, capacity-building infrastructure focused on reform of the entire IT educational pipeline, as well as the culture of IT organizations. Increasing women?s participation in IT has far-reaching national consequences. Not only do information and computing technologies pervade all aspects of our everyday lives in an unprecedented way, but all engineering and science discovery and innovation are now dependent on computational science. Increasing the pool of qualified computing professionals supports the goals of national initiatives (e.g., nanotechnology, the Cyberinfrastructure Initiative) and our economic, security, defense, and health care systems are computing-centered. Increasing the participation of women not only supports national goals, but improves the development and design of computing systems, applications, and products through the integration of diverse ideas while helping to overcome economic disparities for women.
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a community of more than 500 prominent corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits working to increase women's meaningful participation in computing. NCWIT builds capacity in its member organizations so they can recruit, retain, and advance girls and women from K-12 and higher education through industry and entrepreneurial careers. NCWIT operates as a public-private partnership with support from the National Science Foundation and multiple corporate partners. NCWIT’s strategic approach is based in research and evidence-based practices, with membership and collaboration across all levels of the pipeline, from K-12 through post-secondary education and into the workforce. NCWIT is a national resource for improving women’s meaningful participation in computing and technology. NCWIT has built this reputation through its 10-year history of working with a wide range of stakeholders, convening these stakeholders for learning and action, equipping them with the appropriate resources for change, and uniting them in national platforms for awareness and change. In 2013, an impressive 88% of NCWIT members said that something they learned through NCWIT helped them take action. NCWIT members are also empowered to spread the word; in 2013, members reported conducting over 800 presentations or publications on women & girls in IT. Each year NCWIT has increased its membership, improved member engagement, created research based-resources, encouraged usage of NCWIT’s expanding library of resources, and attended hundreds of outreach and dissemination events. NCWIT uses its influence to promote widespread individual, organizational, and national action to diversify computing. NCWIT leverages the combined strength of its members, as well as staff-led communication and outreach efforts to a) increase awareness about the importance of computing to U.S. innovation, competitiveness, and jobs; b) promote rigorous K-16 computing education relevant to 21st century learners; c) assure that all computing education is inclusive; d) improve the image of computing; and e) encourage women already in technical careers to persist. NCWIT continually adds resources to its library of research-based practices customized to the various segments of the pipeline. All resources are available for free download from www.ncwit.org. Staff social scientists develop these resources in collaboration with members of the computing community, and then they are intentionally distributed nationwide. NCWIT also runs a number of programs, including the Aspirations in Computing Program, a talent development pipeline program. This once-small program for high school girls interested in computing has grown into a national (all 50 states) recognition program with almost 15,000 girls in the talent pool. Newly added is a middle school near-peer mentoring and teaching program, and soon, a college-level program to encourage and support women at the post-secondary level. Another critical program is the annual NCWIT Summit, where stakeholders from across the pipeline come together for an intense three days of networking and learning about promising and effective practices, empowering them to return to their home organizations and implement institutional reform. The NCWIT Summit has expanded to include over 500 attendees each year. NCWIT also runs a national awareness campaign – Sit With Me – www.sitwithme.org. Intellectual Merit: NCWIT’s unique change leader network of corporations, academic institutions, and nonprofits reflects a successful, broad, and integrated collaboration informed by social science, resulting in a research-based, nationally unified approach that uses innovative methods for computing workforce gender reform at all levels. NCWIT has created this national infrastructure where one did not exist before. NCWIT’s widely distributed resources translate research findings into easily adapted and adopted practices. These turnkey and multimedia practices have been created with the goal of not just improving women’s representation in computing but also helping to make existing diversity matter. Many of NCWIT’s research and statistics resources are cited regularly by national news outlets such as the New York Times, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. These resources have helped to advance national knowledge about women’s underrepresentation in computing and create urgency to make meaningful change. Broader Impact: NCWIT unwaveringly seeks parity for all women in computing: all ethnicities, ages, and disability status. Results show that NCWIT is making a difference. As of 2011, 62% of NCWIT Academic Alliance Schools had increased their percentage of female undergraduates enrolled in computing since joining NCWIT. More than 2,200 high school girls have been recognized with an Aspirations in Computing Award, and 71% of participants currently in college are majoring in a computing or engineering field. NCWIT’s resources and research reflect its overarching mission. NCWIT partnerships and collaborations have broad reach into the areas of K-12, higher education, and the U.S. technical workforce. Routine and cooperative involvement with the other NSF Broadening Participation in Computing Alliances and other organizations with congruent goals further extends NCWIT’s impact. Even non-computing sciences and other centralized reform efforts have adapted and adopted NCWIT resources and approaches. NCWIT contributions significantly strengthen the U.S. computing workforce.
