First-Generation Undergraduate Women and Intersectional Obstacles to Pursuing Post-Baccalaureate Computing Degrees

Intersectionality in Computer Science: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Both of these events opened a new conversation concerning inclusion and intersectionality. S05, S07, and S09 support that the pandemic was an important factor that decreased the sense of belonging in CS, but also highlighted how marginalised people continuously have had a lesser sense of belonging in CS from being students and into their professional careers [32] [33] [23]. Furthermore, S07, S02, and S03 state that the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement placed intersectionality on the agenda through a call to action from the CS community to be an active leader of change for equity, which further proved that oppression and ignorance had enabled CS to hide behind the false narrative of being a meritocracy [33] [20] [26].…”

“…S11, S08, S10, S02, and S05 found that people of underrepresented identities in CS were more likely to be talked down to, have their qualifications questioned, and experience imposter syndrome as a result of low expectations either in the workplace or in their studies [16] [21] [22] [20] [32]. Moreover, a lack of diversity in the workplace is considered to lead to blatant discrimination and a lost sense of belonging.…”

“…Having a social network in CS was found critical in increasing the probability of choosing CS in higher education [35] [33] [25] [26]. Moreover, the academic/professional CS network was essential in building career confidence and technical skills [35] [21] [16] [36] [27] [32]; further supporting retention in CS. Thus, the network that a person is involved in can help increase their sense of belonging since they can identify with or have empathy for different intersectional experiences while also contributing to a richer, more inclusive environment in CS.…”

An Undergraduate Consortium for Addressing the Leaky Pipeline to Computing Research

“…Various compounding factors have contributed to disparities for students from HMGs over time, such as less access and encouragement to pursue education in computing [11,14]; social environments and structural issues of discrimination, bias, and othering within computing [10,24,29]; and a lack of acceptance, understanding, and support of students' intersectional identities [9,19,21,29]. These factors negatively impact students' self-efficacy, sense of belonging, computing identity, and science capital; constructs shown to predict the persistence of students from HMGs in computing research pathways [8,23,25,31].…”