What about your friends: A critical qualitative inquiry of the experiences of Black and Latiné women in computing

Background

Computing degree programs have struggled immensely over the years with broadening participation in the field. In the United States, scholars and educators alike have grappled with the many barriers that impede the participation of women and people of color and exacerbate the education debt so prevalent in computing.

Purpose/Hypothesis(es)

An exploration of the pathways to and through computing of Black and Latiné women from both computer science (CS) and computer engineering (CE) has the potential to unlock an understanding of these barriers as well as gain insight into the mechanisms leveraged to navigate an often lonely and hostile learning environment.

Design/Method

This qualitative inquiry presents the findings from interviews with 30 women who self-identify as Black and/or Latiné and were enrolled in a CS or CE undergraduate or graduate program. This research was guided by social identity theory and intersectionality and interpreted leveraging feminist theories during the analytical phases.

Results

The findings suggest that one mechanism that these women used to find and navigate through computing was friendship. These friendships included other Black and Latiné women (homophily) and men (allyship). They were facilitated by closeness and frequency of contact (propinquity).

Conclusions

Creating space and opportunity for computing students to foster friendships is critical to their participation and persistence in computing. Furthermore, such space and opportunity can be established in the computing classroom, but this would require a stark departure from the highly competitive and isolating practices that currently dominate traditional teaching methods.