A Case for Feminism in Programming Language Design

Two critical and interrelated questions regarding the design and study of programming languages are: 1) What does it mean to design a programming language? and 2) Why does minimal demographic diversity persist in the programming language community? In this paper, we present feminism as a philosophical lens for analyzing the programming languages field in order to help us understand and answer the motivating questions above. By using a feminist lens, we are able to explore how the dominant intellectual and cultural norms have both shaped and constrained programming languages. A key contribution of this analysis is the explanation of how marginalization in the programming language community limits the intellectual and demographic makeup of the field. We see this paper as an invitation to everyone in the programming languages field to deepen our collective understanding of the forces shaping our field. Our goal is to illustrate opportunities for more inclusive practices that will introduce greater diversity to the design of programming languages and the demographic makeup of the programming language community.