Designing gender-neutral software engineering program

What is it about?

The research focuses on designing gender-neutral Software Engineering programs as a tool to reach gender balance in this domain. There is a general lack of female students and subsequently employees in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics. The attempts of attracting females in technologies have a long history and most topic related studies agree that the main reason for the low ratio of women in STEM is a result of gender stereotypes. This article reviews how gender stereotypes affect students' interest in Software Engineering. The reason we considered gender-neutrality as a tool to achieve gender balance in Software Engineering lies in the fact that both genders experience the pressure of the stereotypes. Studies show that men are not likely to choose feminine products/jobs. Thus, making the educational program more attractive for females could discourage some males from enrolling. Our work considers different approaches to archive gender-neutrality and we present recommendations for gender-neutral program designs, which combine the considered approaches to gender-neutrality.

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Photo by Dainis Graveris on Unsplash

Photo by Dainis Graveris on Unsplash

Why is it important?

There is a general lack of female students and subsequently employees in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics. The attempts of attracting females in technologies have a long history and most topic related studies agree that the main reason for the low ratio of women in STEM is a result of gender stereotypes. Studies show that men are not likely to choose feminine products/jobs. Thus, making the educational program more attractive for females could discourage some males from enrolling.