Sisterhood Is Digital

Designing the Futures of Women

Perhaps it's fitting that the innovator who's driving this growing movement to make technology more relevant to women nearly ended her technical career before it began. "I almost switched my major to Russian," Borg laughs. Actually, Borg got her first taste of computing when she briefly dropped out of college. She left school after her sophomore year to support her husband at the time, who was a graduate student. She worked as a "girl Friday" in the data-processing department of a small New York City insurance company. ("Thankfully," she says, "those jobs no longer exist.")

Borg was intrigued by what she saw. So she picked up an IBM instruction manual and taught herself COBOL. She even got assigned to a programming project, although "they never actually made me a programmer. I left after some combination of quitting and getting fired." A short time later, Borg got divorced -- and went on to get her degree in computer science from New York University.

In the years that followed, Borg forged a model research career. She worked for important companies (Nixdorf Computer, Digital Equipment Corp.) and won patents on some important innovations. But no one ever confused her with the stereotypically awkward, ill-at-ease computer nerd. Borg has always been something of an adrenaline junkie. In the '70s, her extracurricular passion was motorcycles. In the '80s, she tried white-water kayaking. In the '90s, she learned to fly -- first a Cessna 152, then an Archer. Today, busy with the Institute, she contents herself with a "35-minute uphill grunt" bike ride every morning in the Palo Alto hills near PARC. She celebrated her 50th birthday by throwing a raucous party, complete with high-decibel rock and roll.

But something else has always been different about Borg. Early in her own career, she became concerned about other women who aspired to engineering or computer-science careers. In 1987, in response to those concerns, she created the Systers community -- just six years after getting her PhD. And in 1994, she cofounded the Grace Hopper celebration. That event, which occurs every three years, has become a rallying point for women in computing around the world. "As a woman, you have to be in a field that has very few women to appreciate what sitting in a roomful of female colleagues feels like," says Valerie Barr, 42, an assistant professor of computer science at Hofstra University. "Being among 400 other women computer scientists is an amazing experience. Without the conference, I could have gone my whole life without doing that."

Borg transformed herself from informal advocate to full-time crusader after she read The Futures of Women: Scenarios for the 21st Century, by Pamela McCorduck and Nancy Ramsey (Addison-Wesley, 1996). The authors outlined scenarios that would either continue the progress toward gender equality -- or cause a decline into more repressive conditions for women. "The book connected my general sense of how I think the world should be with all my work on behalf of women and technology," Borg recalls.

In typical Borg fashion, she burst into an explosion of energy and initiative. And, as a result, her efforts have had an enormous impact on women in her field. During the past few years, Borg has taken her message to France, Germany, England, Croatia, and South Africa. The trip to South Africa especially affected her. "We held a meeting that drew 300 female scientists and engineers from 60 Third World countries," she says. "If you think 'women in technology' is an oxymoron, try 'Third World women in technology.' I got a visceral understanding of these women -- their passions and concerns, their brilliance. The experience transformed me and gave me even more motivation to do what I'm doing."

Borg, in turn, is motivating other women. "When I met Anita," says Kathy Richardson, "I was 28, and it was the first time that I felt I could be a woman and an engineer at the same time. I used to try not to act feminine. I wanted to fit into engineering as 'one of the guys,' to leave my personal identity out of it. Anita is very good at combining her professional and personal identities -- and making other people comfortable with that."

Borg "shows real leadership among women in computing," says Telle Whitney. "People feel directly touched by what she says. Just before she spoke at the last Grace Hopper conference, she threw out her notes and just talked."

Even when Borg speaks from prepared remarks, she tends to throw away a scientist's typical sense of caution. At a major gathering sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Borg issued a challenge that, by her own admission, represents a "moon-shot goal." The challenge, which she calls "50/50 by 2020," charges that by the year 2020, half of all graduates of computer-science programs will be women. The United States is a long way from that goal. Unlike other professions, such as medicine, law, and consulting, the number of females in computer science is actually declining. According to the U.S. Department of Education, women represented roughly 30% of all college seniors receiving degrees in computer science in 1995 - down from nearly 40% in 1984.