The History of Women And Computing :: Computer Science Technology Essays

The History of Women And Computing Think for a moment, if you will, about your personal computer and the tasks you request that it perform each day. More likely than not your answers include computation, word processing, communication, and research. Did it make sense for John A.N. Lee to label women "lady computers" (14)? The point that Lee makes in his editorial is that women since the late 1800's have performed computation and secretarial duties for their male superiors and therefore they can be equated with computers (15). In actuality, many sources concur on that fact that women played a much larger role in the development of computing then they have been given credit for in the history books. There have been many female contributors to the expansion of computing machines and computer science and several of the pioneers of computing technology were female. Ada Byron Lovelace is one of the few women who get credit for her early work in computing. She lived during the 1800s working closely with Babbage on his Analytic Engine. When translating Babbage's lectures, Lovelace added her own extensive notes to the material (Gurer, "Pioneering Women" 175). She was able to visualize how the Engine could be programmed to complete other tasks, such as playing music, and was the "first to envision and understand the potential for a computing machine." Lovelace developed concepts in computing that are still used today, such as a method of storing sequences (subroutines) of operations or instructions and the Department of Defense has named their high-level programming language "in honor of her contributions and pioneering spirit" (Gurer, "Women" 116- 117; Gurer, "Pioneering Women" 175). The conclusion of the Second World War and the commencement of the "Commercial Computing" age seem to go hand in hand (Ceruzzi 13). During this era, a number of American women fell in line with the "Rosie the Riveter" stereotype and entered the work force to take the place of the men who were sent overseas to fight in the war. Meanwhile, the University of Pennsylvania was beginning the ENIAC project, working to build a computer that would run ballistic calculations for the army.