Examining Unequal Gender Distribution in Software Engineering

Abstract

This paper investigates the biological, psychological and societal reasoning for the disparity of females in the software engineering industry and how a more diverse workforce can have an advantage in this sector. Studies show that diversity in a company positively correlates to its financial profits. Furthermore, a severe lack of women in software engineering causes companies to limit themselves to smaller talent pools, decrease the creative outlook on fresh ideas and resolution of problems. There are superficially inherent reasons why computing appeals to men more than women, observations in multiple reports suggest that men may have a small advantage when it comes to mathematical and problem-solving skills. Additionally, it is elsewhere suggested that females interests reside in other fields related to ‘people’, whereas males are generally more interested in ‘things’. However, while societal factors and bias plays a role in the discouragement of women from the software engineering industry, studies have shown that countries with more gender-inegalitarian societies show an increase in the number of women in software engineering and STEM. This may imply that gender disparity in software engineering primarily emerges from personal choice rather than any discrimination or stereotyping.