Women in Computer Science Degrees: A Cross-National and Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This study focuses on the numerical gap in CS from different angles, whether it presents a similar behavior in all countries or not, and how it evolves over time. We have analyzed OECD statistics from 1998 to 2016 in twenty-nine countries and present results that show that this is a global problem. The average of women who graduated in CS is lower in 2016 than it was in 1998 and the tendency is to continue to diminish, although the situation is very different from some groups of countries to others. We have made statistical analysis that has allowed to present a country classification. This analysis has shown that there is a wide difference between countries such as Mexico, Italy and Belgium for example. We have also carried out statistical analysis of possible relations between economic and social variables for the countries studied along the almost 19 years’ span and have found no statistically significant correlation in global terms, which shows that the problem is complex and that the solutions adopted are only partial.