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We Should All Be Feminists in Software Engineering

We Should All Be Feminists in Software Engineering

Speaker: Letizia Jaccheri – Trondheim, Norway
Topic(s): Software Engineering and Programming , Society and the Computing Profession

Abstract

Software engineering is a paradigm of human activities that incorporates our problem-solving capabilities, cognitive aspects, and social interaction. Software is an infrastructure of all industries and societies around the world, serving global users of all genders. However, there is a current gender gap in both the development and operations of software products and services. In 2023, internet users reached 5.3 billion, constituting 65.7% of the world population. About 70% of males and 63% of females globally use the internet, but merely 5.17% of the worldwide software developer population (27 millions) is comprised of women.

Gender studies is a growing research topic in software engineering as it re-lates to the diversity and inclusion issues for performing and healthy teamwork. Several studies have been devoted to understanding the relation between gender and software engineering.

In the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and increasing automation in software industry, the role of humans is even more emphasized across age, culture and gender. However, the engagement of genders in Software Engineering is not uniform. It is important to address the gender gap in software engineering urgently when new AI intensive software systems are being created because there is a risk that AI generated software perpetuates sexist assumptions and ideologies.

Feminism can be defined as both a theoretical perspective and a social move-ment aiming to diminish and ultimately eliminate sexist inequality and oppres-sion. The concept of intersectionality explores the interconnectedness of social differences, including race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and nationality. Feminism draws attention to the systemic power dynamics emerging from the interaction of various dimensions of social difference across individual, institu-tional, cultural, and societal spheres of influence.

The goal of this lecture is to learn about software engineering and gender research, and to discuss the state of the art about gender issues in core topics of software engineering. The lecture will provide participants with a clear definition and understanding of Software Engineering and gender and explain the origins and historical context that led to the emergence of this field. The intended audience for the lecture includes researchers, software engi-neers, policy-makers, educators as well as anyone who is interested in the inter-section of technology and social issues.

This work is partially supported by the EUGAIN COST Action CA19122 - European Network for Gender Balance in Informatics.

About this Lecture

Number of Slides: 36
Duration: 60 minutes
Languages Available: English, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese
Last Updated:

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