The Unexpected Entry and Exodus of Women in Computing and HCI in India

By Divy Thakkar, Nithya Sambasivan, Purva Kulkarni, Pratap Kalenahalli Sudarshan, Kentaro Toyama. 2018

39 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In India, women represent 45% of total computer science enrollment in universities, almost three times the rate in the United States, where it is 17%. At the same time, women make up an estimated 25-30% of the HCI community in India, half the rate in the U.S. We investigate the complexities of these surprising phenomena through qualitative research of Indian computer science and human-computer interaction researchers and professionals at various life stages. We find among other things that Indian familial norms play a significant role in pressuring young women into computing as a field; that familial pressures and workplace discrimination then cause a precipitous exit of women from computing at the onset of marriage; and that HCI occupies an interstitial space between art and technology that affects women's careers. Our findings underscore the societal influence on women's representation in the tech sector and invite further participation by the HCI community in related questions.

Subfields: Gender Studies, Sociology and Political Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Social Sciences & Humanities

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In Gender Studies

  1. Ben Hutchinson
  2. Vinodkumar Prabhakaran

In Sociology and Political Science

  1. Vinodkumar Prabhakaran
  2. Ben Hutchinson
  3. Nithya Sambasivan

In Human-Computer Interaction

  1. Vinodkumar Prabhakaran
  2. Ben Hutchinson
  3. Nithya Sambasivan

In Social Sciences & Humanities

  1. Erin Arnesen
  2. Ben Hutchinson
  3. Tulsee Doshi
  4. Nithya Sambasivan
  5. Vinodkumar Prabhakaran

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