Crochet Art as a Means to Express Discrimination. : An Exploratory Study of Women’s Experiences in Computer Science Education.

Sammanfattning

This is an exploratory study evaluating crochet art as a means to express experiences of Computer Science students, with a focus on gender differences. Computer Science is a male-dominated program and stereotypes of its students are prevalent, often being of the type ”geeky, anti-social men, who have programmed since they were five”. Women often do not apply to the program because of these stereotypes, or because of discouragement or lack of self-efficacy in the programs subjects. The women who do study the program may realise that these stereotypes are not necessarily true, but can then, because of the masculine culture, instead encounter sexism, feelings of exclusion, stereotype threat and discomfort. The study used a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate students’ experiences at the Computer Science program at the Swedish university KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). From a survey 16 crochet pieces were created, which were shown in a round-table discussion to four female CS-students, during which they could share their experiences at the program. The survey showed that women at CS have programmed less than men, felt more discouraged to apply, are more stressed and sad, feel like they have to work harder than their peers, changes their appearance and how they act to better fit in to a greater extent than men and have felt more discomfort during their years. The round table discussion revealed deeper insight into topics such as stress, fear of failure, feeling dumb when not understanding course material, as well as the positive effects peer or parent interactions can have on self-esteem and choosing to apply to the program. It also revealed worry among the students of being too feminine or fitting into stereotypes. The results matched findings from previous studies, but gave specific insight in what this specific program can do to approve campus life to students. Crochet art was found to be an effective way to convey the experiences of students, as long as colors were consistent across pieces. The participants saw the art as more fun and engaging than standard visualisations of data.