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Women’s Studies and Computer Science

Estrin published a 1996 paper on women’s studies and computer science to discuss the intersections of the two disciplines as they "both evolved as academic disciplines in the 1960s, but they evolved along very different paths." In this paper, Estrin connects feminist epistemology and its pedagogical values to ways computer science could become "more relevant for minority and low-income students." Estrin explains that women's studies did not broach the science and engineering subfields of computing and biomedical engineering, which she says were "creating tools for exploration of women's health and reproductive rights," until 25 years after its founding; instead, women's studies focused on the "immediate experience of women" through humanities disciplines. "Women's studies," Estrin writes, "implies that we expand the world of science and technology from its patriarchal history, which consider these disciplines as inherently masculine." She writes that women's studies seeks to "understand the elements of gender in the social and political situations" and it is necessary in order to "widen women's access to technology."