Enhancing Women's Experiences in Software Engineering
🤖 AI Summary
This study investigates structural barriers impeding women’s entry into and retention within software engineering across high school, undergraduate, and professional stages. Method: Employing a mixed-methods approach—including systematic literature review, staged focus workshops, and thematic coding analysis—it enables the first longitudinal, cross-stage comparative analysis of these barriers. Contribution/Results: Findings identify “persistent self-verification”—the continual need to prove competence—as a central, stage-transcendent stressor. Barriers manifest heterogeneously: familial recognition deficits dominate in high school; undergraduate challenges center on technical competency validation; and workplace exclusion, insufficient parental leave, and lack of育龄 support prevail professionally. Toxic work environments and chronic belongingness deficits emerge as cross-cutting pain points. The study underscores that interventions must begin earlier—in foundational education—and necessitate coordinated systemic reform across education, industry, and society to advance gender equity in software engineering.
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Context: Women face many challenges in their lives, which affect their daily experiences and influence major life decisions, starting before they enroll in bachelor's programs, setting a difficult path for those aspiring to enter the software development industry. Goal: To explore the challenges that women face across three different life stages, beginning as high school students, continuing as university undergraduates, and extending into their professional lives, as well as potential solutions to address these challenges. Research Method: We conducted a literature review followed by workshops to understand the perspectives of high school women, undergraduates, and practitioners regarding the same set of challenges and solutions identified in the literature. Results: Regardless of the life stage, women feel discouraged in a toxic environment often characterized by a lack of inclusion, harassment, and the exhausting need to prove themselves. We also discovered that some challenges are specific to certain life stages; for example, issues related to maternity were mentioned only by practitioners. Conclusions: Gender-related challenges arise before women enter the software development field when the proportion of men and women is still similar. While the need to prove themselves is mentioned at all three stages, high school women's challenges are more often directed toward convincing their parents that they are mature enough to handle their responsibilities. As they progress, the emphasis shifts to proving their competence in managing responsibilities for which they have received training. Increasing the inclusion of women in the field should, therefore, start earlier, and profound societal changes may be necessary to boost women's participation.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Exploring challenges women face in software engineering stages
Addressing toxic environments and lack of inclusion issues
Proposing early interventions to boost women's participation
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Literature review and workshops for insights
Focus on three life stages challenges
Early intervention for women inclusion
🔎 Similar Papers
No similar papers found.
