Girls Who Code

Over the past few months there have been a good number of articles lamenting the lack of women in the computer field.  When I entered the field in the 1960s, there were a fair number of women in the field, given the fact that in the world of that time most housewives did not work.  And, by and large, the women were better programmers than the men.  Many of these women rose to the management level; some started their own firms. But, when I retired in 2002, the number of women programmers had declined quite a bit.  I have never been able to figure this out, as the job paid well, required no heavy lifting and was in a profession that was changing the world.

Now, as Catherine Rampell points out, there seems to be a movement to bring women back into the field.  I should say bring 'girls' in to the field as that seems to be the market organizations, such as Girls Who Code, are addressing.  There is also a nascent trend in the television field to create programs that have women computer scientists in major roles.  Will this movement succeed?