The Women of ENIAC

A historical study of difficulties faced by women choosing a career in science.

Cynthia Soulliere

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The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was developed during World War II to compute tactical trajectories that required substantial mathematical skills. Its designers, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, successfully built and tested the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, once described as "the machine that changed the world". Although the names of Mauchly and Eckert resound throughout the history of computing, the contribution of female programmers to the design of the ENIAC has largely been relegated to the field of trivia. These "Women of ENIAC" were vital to the ENIAC's success, working in a field that until this time could be described as 'men-only'.

Many of the women who worked in the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering, the site of the ENIAC project, chose to forego a traditionally female career in teaching, so that they could work in mathematics. This was a peculiarity of the time. It was generally expected that a college-educated woman would do one of two things, marry or teach (Fritz 1996). These women wanted to apply their knowledge and work in the field of mathematics. The Moore School employed both civilian women, who had been educated in mathematics, and also some members of the Women's Auxiliary Corps (WACs) as "computers", responsible for making tables for firing and bombing trajectories (Winegard and Akera 1996). The women worked with desktop calculators, but much of the integration required to calculate these trajectories needed to be done by hand (Kay McNulty Mauchly Antonelli undated). Women were regarded as capable of doing this work more rapidly and accurately than men. Eighty women were employed with only three male employees at one point (Fritz 1996). This was little support since it was thought that women were more capable since the task was too repetitive for men.

When the designers were looking for programmers, six women were chosen to design and build the trajectory program. The women, Kathleen McNulty, Frances Bilas, Betty Jean Jennings, Elizabeth Snyder, Ruth Lictermann and Marlyn Wescoff, were all highly skilled in mathematics and most held a college degree. They were not given the same professional rating as their male counterparts with identical education and experience (Moye 1996). Their rating was actually SP meaning "subprofessional". Since the ENIAC was being developed for military use, security didn't allow the women to work in the ENIAC room at first. They were forced to learn how to program utilizing exclusively engineering diagrams, since programming manuals had not been developed yet. When they were finally allowed in the ENIAC room, the majority of their time was cleaning up after the male engineers. It is important to note that programming was not like today. It was a difficult labour of changing connections, and inputting vast amounts of data with punchcards. These women understood all the intricacies of the design from their self-training and did much of the problem solving integral to the successful demonstration of the ENIAC in 1946.

One of the greatest difficulties the female programmers faced was gender bias. The directors of the ENIAC project were worried about sexual tension in the workplace. It was a very unusual practice for men and women at this time to work in the same laboratory. John Mauchly, one of the ENIAC's designers, described the engineering workplace as a gendered institution. The women on the project were not afforded the same respect as men. The army's history of ENIAC made a point to record each programmer's name alongside the engineers they married, misspelling one woman's name. Jean Bartik was almost fired after she got married because the director of the Moore School thought she would leave as soon as she became pregnant (Fritz 1996). The misconceptions of having a mixed-gender workplace only served as stumbling blocks for these women and others that followed.

One might contend these women were lucky to even hold a job in mathematics at this time. However, it is apparent that their contribution has been overlooked in the media and by the program directors. To run the ENIAC, required programmers to be constantly resetting dials, changing and plugging in different cables. Complex differential equations had to be broken down to their simplest steps, routed into a bank of electronics and performed in sequence with an accuracy within one five thousandth of a second. Despite its complexity, programming was considered clerical work and relegated to the women. After the first successful test of the ENIAC in 1946, the male staff celebrated, while the "subprofessional" female programmers went home. In the eyes of historians the machine was the story, not the programmers behind it. When the University of Pennsylvania celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the ENIAC, only a few of its female programmers were invited to the ceremony at first. In history's eyes, their contribution has become largely a trivial oddity of wartime.

The women of ENIAC were more than mere technicians; they were integral in the design and testing of the ENIAC. Only two of the original six remained in the field of computer science after marriage though. Betty Holberton played a significant role in the development of FORTRAN programming, integral in the control its standardization. Grace Hopper described her as the best computer programmer she had known in her career (Fritz 1996). Jean Bartik returned to the field of computer science after raising her children. However, it was difficult for women to have a career and raise children at the same time. They were looked down upon by society as well as by colleagues in their profession.

History's treatment of female contribution to the sciences leads to a lack of female role models. Their work has been historically overlooked for that of men. The real tragedy is history's resistance to revision once social attitudes have changed. The women of ENIAC chose a career using their mathematical skills rather than conforming to socially accepted careers like teaching. They faced discrimination on the job due to misconceptions about the value of their education, and about the gendered nature of the engineering workplace. Their significant contribution to "the machine that changed the world" should not be overlooked as a triviality of wartime; rather it should be viewed as a triumph for these female pioneers in the field of computer science.

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For further information on women of the ENIAC or women in computing check out these sites.

Frances Elizabeth Snyder Holberton - involved in development of FORTRAN

http://www.uri.edu/personal/csul7234/bettyholberton1.html

Kay Mauchly

http://kzoo.edu/~k00jm02/antonelli.html

Ada Lovelace - wrote first program to calculate Bernouli numbers

http://www.scottlan.edu/lriddle/women/love.htm

Grace Hopper - developer of first compiler; software language development

http://www.inventorsmuseum.com/GraceHopper.htm

Women In Computers

http://www.mills.edu/ACAD_INFO/MCS/SPERTUS/Gender/gender.html

Pictures Of Women In Computing

http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/photo_gallery.html

Women In Programming

http://www.okbu.edu/business/women_in_programming.htm
Works Cited

Fritz, W.B., 1996. The Women of ENIAC. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, vol. 18, no.3, 13-28.

Kay McNulty Mauchly Antonelli. (undated). [Online], 7 paragraphs. Available: http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html#Kay Mauchly [1999, February 7].

Moye, W. (1996, January). ENIAC: The Army Sponsored Revolution. [Online], 32 paragraphs. Available: http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/comphist/96summary/ [1999, February 7].

Weingard, D. and A, Akera. (1996, January 30). A Short History of the Second American Revolution. University of Pennsylvania Almanac. [Online], vol.42, no. 18, 42 paragraphs. Available: http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v42/n18/eniac.html [1999, February 7].