The opening of CS departments in the 60s and beyond provided a fertile ground for women. Though still a male-dominated environment, the 80's is now seen as a golden age of women in computing. In 1985 37% of American CS were awarded to women, a number that still to this day has never again been achieved.

     The high enrollment of women in computer science in the 80's can also be linked the the general boom of student enrollment in CS. The rise of the personal computer in the early 80's served as a mainstream attraction for students. Personal computers had not been available until the late 70s; prior to then, computer science was hence only pertinent to academia, military, and business.

However, by the late 80s, enrollments began dropping for all students, however the enrollment numbers for women dropped at a much higher rate than those for men. The decline was largely the result of explicit steps taken by academic institutions to reduce computer science enrollments when it became impossible to hire sufficient faculty to meet the demand. This included adding new GPA requirements for entering CS programmes, requiring more prerequisites, and retooling first-year CS classes as a weeder courses. These actions disproportionately hurt not only female participation in the field, but participation of racial minorities as well. Many students had come to CS via non-traditional paths (such as via psychology or linguistics) and lacked the prerequisites as a result, and the retooling of first-year CS as a weeder course also resulted in a competitive atmosphere that deterred many women.