Discussion questions for March 26, 2009

brazil women.pdf
"From Subject of Change to Agent of Change - Women and IT in Brazil",
Symposium on Women and ICT, June 2005

1.  In general, why do many women avoid pursuing science and engineering?  
How is the Brazilian government responding to this?


2.  What accounts for an initially high representation of women in computing,
and then a decline?


3.  According to the article, why is it difficult to measure the demographics 
of people studying IT in Brazil?  


4.  What aspects of Brazilian culture affect how women succeed in an
IT career path?


5.  In your opinion, what are the most important recommendations or
conclusions from the article?


6.  Do you have any comments about the quality of information in the
article?  How could the article have been improved?

--

malaysia women.pdf
"Women in Computer Science - No Shortage Here"
Communications of the ACM, March 2006, pp. 111-114

7.  What were some important findings in the survey of undergraduate
CS and IT students in Malaysia?


8.  How do the results of Table 2 differ from how you might have
answered the questions?


9.  What can we learn from this article?  Any criticisms of the study?