Gender and Computing Conference Papers

More than 40 years of data on authorship of ACM conference papers describe women’s contribution to this important aspect of computing professional life.
The data show (PDF) that women’s authorship increased substantially over time, and that relative to their representation in the likely pool of ACM conference paper authors, women Ph.D.s were especially productive. Initial tests indicate that the increase in women’s share of papers was due in large part to the increase in the number of women in the community of potential authors. Variation in women’s authorship across conferences was associated with conference topic and paper acceptance rates.
This first description of women’s participation as ACM conference paper authors raises questions about publication productivity and conditions that affect diversity in computing, and opens several interesting avenues for future research. 
What do you think?