Computers (n. one who calculates)

#Computers

In the dawn of the I.T. industry, before the first calculating machines or 'electronic brains' were used for commercial applications, rows of workers would write programs to carry out scientific calculations - and it would not be unusual for the majority of them to be women; and before the term 'programmers' was commonly used, they were known as 'computers' (those who computed things).

Women have been at the forefront of the computing industry since Ada Lovelace attended a talk by Charles Babbage on the Analytical Engine. She was the first person to see that it could be used for more than numerical calculations, going on to write the first algorithm for the machine and becoming what is now considered to be the world's first programmer.

As computers (the machines) developed, so did the role of computers (the people). Although most sciences remained male-dominated at the turn of the previous century, more and more women were pushing boundaries in mathematics which then opened the door to the more technological domain of computing. In this brand new field initially untarnished by a society still steeped in prejudice, women established themselves as pioneers and intellectuals without the otherwise unavoidable fight.

Unfortunately, in the 1960s, nearly 100 years after a woman laid the foundations for the industry, it began to turn against its female constituents. Men just entering the industry began to earn the same salary as the women who had pioneered it; the culture of the age denied women the opportunity to both work and have a family; the computing workplace became, like so many others, yet another preying ground for 'rampant sexism'. The number of women remaining in the industry was dwindling - and said industry was suffering for the loss of their experience and innovation.  Dame Stephanie Shirley, herself an early programmer and entrepreneur, not only founded one of the world's first software companies, Freelance Programmers, but also saw it as her public duty to retain these great minds in the field they had already given so much to; and so, until the otherwise highly beneficial and long-awaited Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, her company employed only women, the majority of whom were able to work from home - something many professionals today take for granted.

Not only was it one of the first software companies, Freelance Programmers was one of the most prestigious, winning contracts for highly complex and often top secret applications, from the Polaris nuclear weapons program and scheduling national transportation operations to the programming of the black box flight recorder for Concorde.

Dr. Ann Moffat, who wrote the Concorde programs, tells her story here in a great BBC Radio 4 documentary, presented by Martha Lane Fox (one of our Intrepid Entrepreneures). In less than half an hour you'll meet Ada, Dame Stephanie (also known as 'Steve'), Ann and other programmers including Mary Coombs, the first woman to program the world's first commercially available business computer: the Lyons LEO. Definitely an inspiring listen a great idea for a forthcoming post!