Taking a deep breath, Upper School Mathematics Teacher Andy Stout steps in front of the expectant crowd, placard in hand, ready to present the Computer Science award to a member of the senior class. He announces the name and proudly congratulates the student as the crowd erupts in applause. However, his joy is quickly overshadowed when he receives notice that a parent of a male student in the same class would like to meet with him. In the meeting, the parent begins questioning Stout, asking whether the female student received the prize only because she’s a girl.
Stout said the incident relates to a broader trend of female students experiencing self-doubt about being in a class like high level science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) classes such as Computer Science.
“In my experience, because of the gender disparity that already exists in the class, girls are more likely to experience feelings of not belonging and [lacking] confidence,” Stout said. “These feelings exacerbate uncertainty that comes from being a minority to begin with because it’s very rare that there is an equal number of girls and boys in the class.”
Historically, women were excluded from higher education and the workforce, with a formal ban on gender discrimination practices being enshrined in law as recently as the 1960s, according to the National Women’s History Alliance. Even now, women remain underrepresented in STEM roles, comprising only 28.2% of the STEM workforce compared to 47.3% in non-STEM sectors, according to the World Economic Forum.
Elle Kirman ’27 said that although male students often come in with more prior knowledge in computer science, the curriculum addresses the discrepancy through a transition period.
“I noticed more guys coming into computer science already knowing how to code than girls,” Kirman said. “When I talk to people about feeling a little behind, it is mostly girls. But, the way that both Advanced Computer Science and Honors Design and Data Structures are set up accounts for the transition at the beginning of the year, and the assignments are worth more as you progress.”
50% of women in STEM jobs say they have experienced a form of discrimination in the workplace due to their gender, according to the Pew Research Center. Milly*, who was previously a member of the robotics team, said there were gender biases present on the team that directly impacted her experience and leadership opportunities .
“In robotics, there was generally a toxic culture of sexism and an assumption of female inadequacy, which was harmful to women like me on the team,” Milly said. “In particular, there was sexism and bias that influenced the decisions for student leadership. The culture is definitely a function of the fact that robotics is so heavily male-dominated. A lot of guys are drawn together and become very friendly, which leads to a very ‘bro culture,’ which makes it hard for a woman to break into.”
47% of students feel that female students are underrepresented in Honors-level STEM Classes, according to a Chronicle poll. Women in STEM Club Co-leader Rebecca Lee ’26 said that although she has not faced any blatant sexism, there is more that needs to be done to properly represent women in STEM subjects.
“I haven’t found the experience of women in STEM at the school to be notably different from men,” Lee said. “However, I’ve noticed a slight gender gap, especially in some of my more rigorous STEM courses at the school. Broadly speaking, there’s definitely more that can be done when it comes to pay gaps and a general attitude toward women in the workforce or male-dominated fields.”
Kirman said she has not personally noticed any difference in how female and male students are treated in Computer Science.
“I feel like I’m treated as an individual with my own skill set, so I’ve never really experienced different treatment [based on gender],” Kirman said. “I don’t see a big gender treatment gap and have never seen any sexism or anything of the sort within Computer Science.”
Genevieve Watson ’27, a former member of the robotics team, said the embedded lack of respect for women within robotics contributed to the imbalanced gender dynamic.
“It was really a leadership problem for both the coaches and the upperclassmen,” Watson said. “There were very few girls in leadership positions, and even the girls in leadership positions weren’t respected in the way the boys were.”
50% of women in technology fields leave by age 35, largely driven by non-inclusive, unsupportive or toxic company cultures, according to a joint study conducted by Girls Who Code and Accenture. Josh Massey ’26 said male students who are involved in STEM-related extracurriculars tend to exclude girls due to a lack of personal belonging.
“From what I’ve observed, guys who participate in [STEM-related] extracurriculars are often not traditionally popular and are more likely to have experienced not belonging and being ostracized,” Massey said. “So, when they finally find a group of people to whom they feel connected, they make it exclusionary because they’ve found something that is uniquely theirs and end up projecting their own experiences.”
Studies conducted in the corporate workplace show that women are less likely to be promoted than their male colleagues, according to Harvard University. Watson said robotics at the Upper School created an unfair environment where boys were disproportionately rewarded by leadership.
“Especially at the Upper School, robotics started getting very exclusionary,” Watson said. “Oftentimes, girls wouldn’t be given the same attention or opportunities as the boys from other leaders and the coach, so I felt like I was coming to practice every day to just sit there passively and watch other people do things.”
Milly said in general, women are held to a different code of conduct than men are.
“Women are unfortunately expected to be nicer and more accommodating and held to a different standard than men,” Milly said. “So, they’re put into this impossible choice where you either shut up and keep your head down or be more pushy and people won’t like you.”
Stout said girls are often hesitant to point out sexism while enrolled in a class.
“I find that girls rarely phrase their complaints as sexism until they’re finished taking the class,” Stout said. “Usually, it will be about how a specific person in their class is putting them down. But when I speak to a student 6 months later, and I’m no longer teaching them, they’ll be more forthcoming about how they feel that the boys make girls feel like inferior programmers to make themselves feel superior.”
Milly said that while the lack of representation derives from embedded issues, more visibility for women is crucial to improving the experience of women overall.
“I believe it is a fairly systemic issue because there’s obviously a larger issue of many women in America being excluded from STEM, which perpetuates a vicious cycle,” Milly said. “However, I do think that within robotics, leadership has the potential to make the team better. There’s a subtle, pervasive culture that leadership needs to be able to appreciate the nuances of, and adults need to be trained in that matter.”
