Using life course theory to frame women and girls´ trajectories toward (or away) from computing: Pre high-school through college years

In this study, life course theory was used to synthesize research on women´s underrepresentation in computing across 4 stages of their academic trajectory: pre high-school, high-school, college recruitment, and college retention. The Association for Computing Machinery and IEEE Explore databases, as well as select journals that publish on women in computing, were searched for relevant work. The synthesis reveals issues of use and access at early ages; several efforts at interventions at the pre high-school and high-school stage; the influence of stereotypical images of computing at the college recruitment stage; and exclusionary behavior and women´s computing self efficacy as important issues at the retention stage. Similarities and differences across these stages are discussed, and recommendations are made for future work based on the synthesis and life course framework.