A Case Study in Brazil and Spain about the Students’ Perception of the Gender Gap in Computing

Abstract

Foster diversity and inclusion are part of the strategic actions of public and private organizations. Some of these actions are focused on increasing the representation of historically underrepresented groups and investing in creating a culture where all employees can reach their potential. Moreover, there are sectors in which the lack of inclusive environments is more critical. In particular, in the engineering and technology sectors, there is a lack of diversity related to gender and race. This problem is present in all worldwide regions, despite vary from one to another. Regarding the gender gap, governments and organizations put their efforts into reducing it in engineering and technology through actions mainly focused on engaging more women into these areas, avoiding dropping out during STEM studies, and joining the labor market. In this context, we have developed a project to mainstream gender within this framework and foster diversity in computer engineering studies. The project has two main objectives: prepare students to introduce diversity and inclusion as part of the software development processes; and build work environments that follow the principles of diversity and inclusion. In order to improve the actions related to both objectives, this study collects the perception of students regarding the gender gap in computer engineering studies to answer two questions: R1 – What kind of support do computer engineering students have before starting their university studies?; R2 – Are there differences between the perception of the students in Brazil and Spain related to the social, academic, and professional context? The results show that almost half of the participants had not received any support before studying Computer Engineering. On the other hand, mothers are the principal support in both countries. Finally, the results show that Spanish participants have more awareness of the lack of women in the engineering and technological sector and the need to work on this issue.