Exploring Gender Imbalance in AI: Numbers, Trends, and Discussions

March is Women's History Month in the US, the UK and Australia, a time to honour women's sometimes underrated contributions to society. According to the US National Women's History Museum, Women's History Month started in 1978 as a local "Women's History Week" celebration in California, with organizers selecting the week to correspond with the March 8 International Women's Day. The US Congress in 1987 passed Public Law 100-9 designating March as the Women's History Month. The past few decades have seen a steady increase in the number of women studying and excelling in the STEM fields. But this is not so in computer science -- the number of women studying or pursuing a career in computer science has been decreasing since around 1990.