Women in computing around the world

Abstract

This paper describes the participation of women in computing in more than 30 countries, by focussing on participation at undergraduate level. A brief discussion covers how societal and cultural factors may affect women's participation. Statistics from many different sources are presented for comparison. Generally, participation is low -most countries fall in the 10-40% range with a few below 10% and a few above 40%.

Desafíos de la Inclusión Digital: antecedentes, problemáticas y medición de la Brecha Digital de Género

“…Tal condición alimenta el alto número de abandonos de estudiantes mujeres durante su formación académica en computación, en poblaciones de estudiantes que de por si son escasas. Galpin, en su estudio internacional en 30 países, encontró que el número de estudiantes de computación mujeres fluctúa entre el 10 % y 40 % del total de la matrícula, habiendo más países con cifras cercanas al límite inferior (Galpin, 2002). Para el año de 2009, la exclusión de género en el sector informático en los EUA había empeorado en cuanto a la disminución de la participación femenina en posiciones de poder, tanto en las facultades como en la industria, a pesar que el número de mujeres con titulación universitaria en el área hubiese aumentado (Klawe, Whitney, & Simard, 2009).…”

Integrating Online Learning into Workplace Information Systems – Supporting the Goal of Lifelong Learning

“…USA and Europe have a worse gender balance in their engineering and IT workforces than many developing countries [13], as is typified by a Scientific American article in 2013 [14] which discusses the different perceptions and attititudes of both men and women, to women studying engineering in higher education. The percentage of women in the engineering and IT workforces has been a major problem for years despite many major initiatives to try and persuade women otherwise.…”

Female Under-Representation in Computing Education and Industry - A Survey of Issues and Interventions

“…This will provide a contextual insight into the nature of the problem. An analysis of research work on the participation rates of females in computing education and careers indicate that the level is low in many parts of the world [33], [72].This trend has a history dating back to the early 1980s. Prior to this time there was a healthy level of female representation in both computing education and industry.…”

“…The progressive decline of females in computing education from secondary education stage leading to tertiary education is described by Gurer and Camp as -the pipeline shrinkage problem‖ [36]. This pipeline effect has been identified as a worldwide issue as data collected from many parts of the world presents a broadly similar picture although there are some exceptions in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, where the female representation in computing education is 50% and above [33].…”