Humanitarian Applications Increase Interest and Motivation of Women in Computing

The persistent lack of women in computing programs leads to some key questions about how to engage more women in computing. Although prior research has shown that women self-report they are motivated by the potential "doing good" nature of computing, this paper describes a more focused study designed to investigate if there are differences in women's interest and motivation in developing humanitarian vs. non-humanitarian applications. 376 introductory computing students completed a survey about what applications they would find interesting and motivating to develop. Students were asked to choose which of two applications, one humanitarian and one non-humanitarian, they would be more interested in developing. For example, would they rather write an application to track seasonal flu patients or pizza deliveries. Students were also asked to rate how motivating they would find writing various humanitarian and non-humanitarian applications. For example, students rated their motivation to write applications to find available shelter space for the homeless and to find profitable locations for new stores. Results of 364 usable surveys of introductory computing students demonstrate that women are more interested in humanitarian applications as opposed to non-humanitarian and women are more motivated by humanitarian applications than non-humanitarian. One way to engage more women in computing may be to frame programming examples and assignments with a humanitarian focus and eventually have students contribute to projects for social good.