Why do Women Refrain from IT/ICT studies at Higher Education Institutions?

A Literature Review

Authors

  • Elizaveta Tereshchenko LUT University
  • Sherah Kurnia University of Melbourne
  • Audrey Mbogho United States International University-Africa
  • Ari Happonen LUT University

Keywords:

Gender balance, ICT, CS, STEM, underrepresentation of women, complex problem, global challenge, stereotype, career, equality, diversity, education, Higher Education

Abstract

Solving global and local challenges efficiently requires as many diverse, educated, and knowledge-based viewpoints as possible. Regarding diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), especially in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, men have dominated the field for decades. Even nowadays, when the study contents have highly diversified, a more significant share of men join STEM studies paths than women. Based on a literature review, we explore and analyze reasons explaining why women choose or do not choose ICT studies at higher education institutions and what challenges they face in this path. The study collected current research-based views and extended the existing views on improving gender diversity in ICT studies. When choosing a future specialization, the society in which the child grew up, the family in which they were brought up, and the traditions they invested in are much more important than their gender. We have analysed the challenges and difficulties faced by women during the STEM pipeline based on the modern academic literature. Our recommendations can be considered and implemented in university and school organizing strategies and implementation models to achieve better gender balance. Researchers, universities, and organizations involved in ICT and STEM can apply our findings to future-proof their efforts to develop more efficient all-gender supportive operational models. 

Author Biographies

  • Elizaveta Tereshchenko, LUT University

    Elizaveta Tereshchenko is a junior researcher and doctoral student at LUT University. Her research is concerned with studying women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

  • Sherah Kurnia, University of Melbourne

    An Associate Professor at the School of Computing and Information Systems, the University of Melbourne, Australia. She completed her PhD in inter-organizational information system adoption from Monash University, Australia. Her research areas include electronic commerce, inter-organizational information systems, mobile commerce and social technologies, supply chain management, sustainability, strategic IT decision-making, and enterprise architecture. Dr. Kurnia has over 150 publications and has published in various journals including Information and Management, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Journal of Business Research, and International Journal of Supply Chain. She has won six Best Paper Awards from leading Information Systems conferences. She is currently an Associate Editor for Information and Management Journal.

  • Audrey Mbogho, United States International University-Africa

    Audrey Mbogho is an associate professor of machine learning at USIU-Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Her many years of international experience have given her exposure to different cultures and the opportunity to see first-hand the need for diversity, equality and inclusion, particularly in the context of computer science education. Along with colleagues from several other international and local institutions, she is involved in multidisciplinary collaborative projects in natural language processing for under-resourced languages, bioinformatics education and women’s inclusion in computing.

  • Ari Happonen, LUT University

    Ari Happonen is currently project manager/principal investigator and University-Industry collaborator at LUT School of Engineering Science in Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. Assoc. Prof. Ari Happonen's research interests include Digitalization, ICT for Sustainability, Robotization, Hackathons, Code Camps, Digital transformation, Experimental innovation, Design thinking and Modern waste reduction methodologies. His research focuses mainly on practical and efficient industrial related applied research collaboration activities, both in B2B and in B2C contexts. There, he contributes to software engineering, ICT & sustainability, AI solutions, hackathon & education-related research areas. He is also actively participating in education and teaching development efforts for almost 20 years now. He is currently working as an intermediary in multiple research projects between universities and innovative front-line companies.

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Published

16-08-2024

Issue

Vol 16 No 2

Section

Research and theoretical papers

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How to Cite

Why do Women Refrain from IT/ICT studies at Higher Education Institutions? A Literature Review. (2024). International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 16(2), 101-123. https://genderandset.open.ac.uk/index.php/genderandset/article/view/1297