“There’s nothing about Harvard that discouraged me as a female to pursue computer science,” she said.
Current female concentrators also said that they think the increase in female concentrators represents a trend that extends beyond Harvard.
“Once women start majoring in computer science, then other women see other female concentrators and start to see it as a viable concentration,” said Wood.
But she acknowledged that, even at Harvard, there is still room for improvement.
“There are fewer role models in terms of the history of CS for women. That’s obviously not something that you can fix,” Wood said. “It’s just a question of improving in the future.”
—Staff writer Amy Guan can be reached at guan@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Radhika Jain can be reached at radhikajain@college.harvard.edu.