A Systematic Review of the Literature on CS Outreach Activities for Girls

Abstract

Gender imbalance in the technology sector is a long-standing issue. For several decades, Computer Science (CS) outreach activities have become an established strategy for encouraging girls to pursue courses and careers in the field of computing. However, it is not clear how impactful these initiatives are, or what elements make them valuable. A systematic review of general CS outreach initiatives (including both male and female) reported that such programmes tend to be underdeveloped in terms of measuring their impact. In light of this observation, and the ongoing need to address gender imbalance in CS, this paper provides a systematic review of girls CS outreach literature from 1996 to 2023.The research question addressed is: 'What are the characteristics of all-female adolescent and pre-adolescent computing outreach activities and how is their impact measured?' The review concludes that these initiatives tend to share much in common in terms of their aims and the approaches followed, including the use of female mentors, the activities engaged in, and the settings in which they are carried out. The majority of papers reported some level of programme evaluation. There is some evidence, at least in the short-term, that perceptions of CS, self-efficacy, and plans to pursue CS as course of study show modest positive improvement. The evidence for lasting or long-term impact of interventions is more limited.