=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3321/paper5
|storemode=property
|title=Factors that Prompted a Sample of Female Students to Choose an IT Career. A Regionalized Exploratory Study at Three National University Campuses
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3321/paper5.pdf
|volume=Vol-3321
|authors=Sandra Cabrera Alzate,Irene Hernández Ruiz
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/clei/AlzateR22
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==Factors that Prompted a Sample of Female Students to Choose an IT Career. A Regionalized Exploratory Study at Three National University Campuses==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3321/paper5.pdf
Factors that Prompted a Sample of Female Students to Choose
an IT Career. A Regionalized Exploratory Study at Three National
University Campuses
Sandra Cabrera Alzate 1, Irene Hernández Ruiz 2
1,2
Universidad Nacional, Lagunilla, Heredia, Heredia, Costa Rica
Abstract
The present work is an exploratory work that reveals the perception of some of the students of
the Informatics career of three campuses of the National University of Costa Rica about the
motivation they have had to venture into their current study career. For this, a form was
developed through Google Forms, which was applied during the first semester of 2022,
obtaining a response from 87 students from the second to the fourth year of the career in three
different regions where the career is taught, with the purpose to identify some factors that
motivated these women to study this career and to know what were the main skills that they
developed during their training and that it be an input to collaborate with future projects to
motivate more women to study this area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(STEM) .
Keywords
Gender, Information and Communication Technologies (IT), Female participation, Factors,
Motivation.
1. Introduction
Gender equality does not mean that men and women should be treated as identical, but rather that
access to opportunities and the exercise of rights should not depend on a person's gender. Equality of
opportunity must have a direct impact on the effective exercise of women's rights [1].
On the other hand, authors such as [2], The results of this study indicate that the problem of low
female participation in the computer science area has two dimensions: recruitment and retention. That
is, few women enroll in computer science careers and once enrolled, it is difficult to retain them.
Among some of the initiatives that stand out is that of UN Women, which since 2010 has been
producing an annual report 2019-2020 entitled “The world for women and girls.", This one shows that
gender inequalities and discrimination permeate all situations, whether it is a new pandemic or an old
conflict, entrenched income disparities or lack of political voice, where women and girls face additional
risks and obstacles just because they are women and girls. [1].
Gender equality is good business" is the slogan of WeEmpower, a partnership between UN Women,
the European Union and the International Labour Organization. This initiative works with companies
and entrepreneurs to open doors for women in the private sector in 20 countries, including the Win-Win
initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean [1].
The report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
entitled: "Cracking the Code: Girls' and Women's Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics (STEM)." presents the global picture of the lack of female representation, the factors behind
it and examples of how to improve the interest, engagement and performance of girls in these fields.
Among the findings he mentions he states that 30% of those enrolled in STEM-related careers in higher
education are women [3]. At the same time. The study indicates that enrollment of female students is
especially low in information and communication technologies (3%), natural sciences, mathematics and
XIV Congress of Latin American Women in Computing 2022, October 17–21, 2022, Quindío, Colombia
EMAIL: sandra.cabrera.alzate(S. Cabrera Alzate); irene.hernandez.ruiz@una.cr (I. Hernández Ruiz)
ORCID: 0000-0002-0780-2327 (S. Cabrera Alzate); 0000-0003-4625-922 (I. Hernández ruiz)
©️ 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
42
statistics (5%), and engineering, manufacturing and construction (8%), while enrollment in health and
wellness is high (15%), statistics (5%) and engineering, manufacturing and construction (8%) while
health and wellness is high (15%).
According to the OECD report The ABC of gender equality in education [4], one of the biggest
problems in the development of careers in the disciplines of Basic Sciences, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (associated with the acronym of those who had a STEM-based curriculum: science,
technology, engineering and mathematics) for university women is the lack of interest they usually have
in this type of careers due to prejudices and stereotypes that accompany these professions.. In this line,
it is mentioned that the reasons are due to the fact that women have less self-confidence than men in
solving mathematical or scientific problems, in addition to the fact that parents' expectations are higher
for their sons than for their daughters when it comes to supporting them in pursuing careers in science,
technology, engineering or mathematics, according to data from the Program for International Student
Assessment (PISA).
The "Towards 2030 Report on Science" states that in Latin America the number of university
graduates and higher education institutions is growing, which is why more than 2 million bachelor's
degrees, or their equivalent were awarded in 2012, where most of the graduates were women [5].
In Costa Rica, despite the legislation in force to achieve equal access for women in all fields, the
numbers do not differ from those of other nations. According to data from the Dean's Office of the
Faculty of Engineering of the University of Costa Rica (UCR), of the student population enrolled in the
2021 academic year, an average of 33% were women. And although some of the nine schools of that
faculty show a higher percentage, exclusion is higher in the School of Computer Science and Informatics,
with 17%, followed by Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, with 21% in both cases [6].
On the other hand, at the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, the selection criteria of the "Program
of Attraction, Selection, Admission and Permanence with Equity" have been modified. ". This responds
to the fact that the additional 5% of the careers that present over demand and are framed in the STEM
areas, will be assigned with a selection alternating between women and men, starting with a woman,
always respecting the criteria such as the admission score [7].
The above data, and the importance of the gender issue in careers such as engineering motivated this work,
which was conducted as an exploratory study during the first semester of the year 2022 at the Liberia,
Interuniversity and Benjamín Núñez Campuses. In this way this work has been structured in the following sections:
ii. Initiatives in Costa Rica to promote the participation of women in IT careers, iii. Studies on the gender
issue in students at the School of Informatics of the Universidad Nacional, vi. Skills in the student body,
vii. Methodology, viii. Results, ix. Conclusions and future work.
2. Initiatives in Costa Rica to encourage women’s participation in careers in
IT.
There are different initiatives in Costa Rica that encourage the participation of women in IT careers,
for example Intel Costa Rica developed in 2020 activities to encourage the participation of women in
careers related to science and technology, Microsoft Costa Rica 1, are some of the organizations around
information technology that have developed programs to promote female participation.
Also, the UNA STEM NETWORK, as an institutional project of the National University, has
developed a set of initiatives with the design of videos to motivate more young people to study careers
in science. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT) of Costa Rica [8],
together with allied institutions and organizations seek to promote gender equality in training,
employment, and enjoyment of the products of science, technology, telecommunications, and
innovation, so that efforts are made at the country level along these lines.
3. Studies on the gender issue in students at the school of computer science
of the National University
1
https://news.microsoft.com/es-xl/microsoft-anuncia-talleres-virtuales-gratuitos-para-empoderar-a-ninas-y-mujeres/
43
At the School of Informatics of the National University, some studies have been carried out on the
incorporation of women in technology-related careers. Mata et al [9] in their work indicates that there is
evidence that women tend to be underrepresented in computer science (CS) programs in many countries.
Based on this fact, they analyzed the gender situation in Costa Rica and found that this situation also
applies to the four public universities in the country. In addition, as in the case of the U.S., they found
that the gender situation in Costa Rica also applies to the four public universities in the country, The
percentage of women graduating from computer science programs at these universities is decreasing.
Based on previous studies, the authors explain the gender gap in Costa Rican public universities and
present recommendations to reduce it. Mora et al [10] studied the admission processes, [11] sought to
identify the motivational factors and expectations involved in the choice of career by students at the
School of Informatics. Hernández et al [12] consulted with students from two computer informatics
careers in Costa Rica about initiatives to incorporate more students from the perspective of students who
have just passed through the first stage of university entrance. Cabrera et al [5] conducted a focus group
with 20 students to find some factors that would allow them to learn more about the subject [13] Projects
have been carried out with the participation of students as a mechanism of motivation and as a space for
them to develop their soft and hard skills. Currently, the School of Informatics of the Universidad
Nacional de Costa Rica has an estimated female participation of approximately 23% [5].
4. Skills in the student body
According to the Royal Spanish Academy, skill is understood as the ability of someone to perform a
given task or activity correctly and with ease. A type of classification of skills into hard skills (hard skill)
and soft skills (softskill).
Defines the term "soft skills" as the qualities or personal attributes or level of commitment of a person
that distinguishes him or her from others, even if they have similar skills and experience [14]. It is also
understood as those skills that could enhance job performance, facilitate internal mobility, catapult career
development, and predict job success. These skills include social and interpersonal skills or meta
competencies, i.e., the ability to work in diverse environments, and to transfer learning from one field to
another [15].
While hard skills are knowledge related to education and experience level, which allow the
management of data, equipment, and systems. Examples of hard skills include writing, mathematics,
statistics, finance, chemistry, biology, the ability to use software programs, among others; [16] This
classification and definition were used as the basis for the questionnaire, since around information
technology in the labor market it is necessary for our students to strengthen these two types of skills.
When students enter the student body during their academic training, they develop a set of skills that
will later help them in their professional life. In this work, it was considered important to know the skills
developed by the female students at the School of Informatics during their academic process, to be able
in the long term to generate academic spaces to strengthen these skills and to take them as input for the
development of activities for new women students.
5. Methodology
To learn about the motivation of female students, the following questionnaire was used as a basis.
“Relevance of Science Education questionnaire” (“ROSE-Q” for its acronym in English) [17], this
instrument is made up of closed-ended questions [18]. For this paper, 5 questions were selected from this
questionnaire that probe learning experiences in school, inspiration for the choice of education, as well
as future work expectations. It was also completed with 3 additional questions that allowed to delve
deeper into the motivations for entering technology careers and to learn about their developed skills.
44
6. Results
The questionnaire was developed in an exploratory way and was implemented through Google
Forms. The questionnaire was distributed among female students of the Computer Science program of
the Universidad Nacional at three different campuses: Central Campus (Benjamín Núñez Campus,
Interuniversity Campus of Alajuela, and Liberia Campus). For the collection of information was sent
by e-mail and 87 responses were obtained, thus corresponding to a convenience sample.
Description of the group that answered the questionnaire is confirmed as follows: the ages of the
female students range from 17 to 31 years old, and they are distributed in different career levels.
Figure #1 Career level of female students surveyed
Figure #1 Career level of female students
surveyed
40
30
20
10
0
Lic IV III II I
Source: Own elaboration
Figure 1 shows that the largest number of female students who completed the questionnaire were
third-year students, followed by fourth-year students as the second group to complete the instrument.
This means that the majority group already has advanced knowledge in the career as well as in their
knowledge in the career areas.
Figure #2
Are you working?
Are you Working?
80
60
40
20
0
NO Sí
Source: Own elaboration
Figure 2 shows that most of the women who responded to the survey are not only working, but also
have a job.
45
• Analysis of the ROSE-Q questionnaire:
As explained above, 5 questions were selected from this questionnaire focused on student motivation.
The results of these questions are presented below:
Figure #3
What motivated you to choose this career?
What motivated you to choose this career?
9%
17%
9%
65%
Work Oportunity Mathematics Habilities
Graduate Profile It was not the first choice
Source: Own elaboration
Figure 3 shows that 65% of female student’s main motivation for entering the Engineering program
was the job opportunities that exist in Costa Rica in the area of information technology and, in second
place, the graduation profile and subjects.
Figure#4
What is the importance of the following people to your career choice?
What is the importance of the following people to your
career choice?
13%
18%
71%
Friends Professor Parents
Source: Own elaboration
Figure 4 shows that the majority of female students indicated that their parents were very important
to them in their career choice.
46
Figure#5
Is there a female role model?
Is there a female role model?
60,00%
51,72%
50,00%
40,00% 34,48%
30,00%
20,00% 13,79%
10,00%
0,00%
Family Teachers I don´t have
Source: Own elaboration
Figure 5 shows that half of the female students consider that they do not have a female role model.
In this result, it is very interesting as it can be seen as an opportunity to carry out activities at the high
school level to motivate more women to study computer science.
Figure #6
What is your goal?
What is your goal?
Apply engineering
Show that i can
Start your own business
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Source: Own elaboration
Figure 6 shows that the highest percentage of female students (48%) expect to apply for engineering
as one of their personal goals.
47
Where do you want to work?
Figure #7
Where do you want to work?
Teaching 5%
Own company 13%
Goverment 7%
Research 7%
Work for a company 57%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Source: Own elaboration
Figure 7 shows that the majority of female students expect to work in a company at the end of their
studies. This topic allows the School of Informatics to bring opportunities closer to our students so that
they have a greater opportunity to develop their professional practice or to be incorporated into the
working world.
In addition to the questions above, additional questions were also asked which are detailed below.
• Initiatives to motivate more female students:
Figure 8: Initiatives to motivate more female students
48
Figure 8 shows a conceptual map which was elaborated with all the brainstorming ideas that the
students presented in the questionnaire. This conceptual map will serve as a guide for future activities to
be carried out at the School of Computer Science.
Figure #9
Skills that women have developed the most during study
Skills that women have developed the most
during study
90% 82%
80% 74% 74% 74%
70%
60% 50%
50% 36% 36%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Source: Own elaboration
Figure 9 shows the skills that women have developed the most during study, and it shows in first
place the theme of analytical skills with 82 of the options selected by the women students. In this topic,
it is also important to propose activities that can further promote these skills, especially the topic of
written communication.
Figure #10
Choice of female students with respect to their choice of work area
Choice of female students with
respect to their choice of work area
Software Engineering
Software development
Programming and support
Quality assurance
Telecommunications
Server Management
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Source: Own elaboration
49
Figure 10 shows the frequencies of choice of female students with respect to their choice of work
area, in this case most students are inclined to the software development part, in that sense software
development is the most frequent option in the selection of the work area, as well as Software
Engineering.
Table 1
Women Students and their choice of where to work
Yes Working in a Company Own Company Teaching Investigation Government
20 12 4 3 1 0
No
67 64 9 2 5 6
Table 1 shows that although both working and non-working female students have as their first choice
that they would like to work in the IT business sector, they would like to work in the IT sector.
6.1. General analysis of motivations
The students who completed the survey mentioned current job opportunities as a factor that prompted
their career choice. They also mentioned the influence of their parents or relatives in motivating them to
choose the career, as well as the equal treatment in their family. On the other hand, the female students,
as they advance in their careers, have enthusiastically taken on the different challenges in the different
areas of the career. Most of the students who completed the survey mentioned facility around
mathematics during their development in high school. Other respondents mentioned the influence of
their parents, relatives and friends, who have urged them to enter the computer field professionally.
Likewise, a large majority of the responses obtained, are struck by the wide range of jobs in the field of
information technology.
7. Conclusions work and future
In this work an exploratory analysis was carried out, which reflects some important aspects among
which the following stand out: the main motivational factors, as well as the skills developed in them,
which are an input so that later on a study can be carried out that covers all the female students at the
School of Computer Science. Most of the female students who completed the questionnaire are juniors
and seniors, which implies an advanced knowledge in the career as well as in their knowledge in the
career areas.
Most of the women surveyed chose this career because of the current employment opportunities in
Costa Rica, as there are many transnational and national companies in the country.
A high percentage of more than two thirds of the women surveyed stated that their parents were very
important in the process of choosing a career.
There is an interesting percentage of female respondents who stated that they were motivated by their
professors and teachers, which can be interpreted as an opportunity to carry out activities at the secondary
level to motivate more women to study computer science. For which it is expected to be able to develop
spaces in activities such as open doors that the National University carries out annually, which makes
this career known to students who are in the fifth year of all public and private schools in the country.
The vast majority of respondents stated that they are interested in working for a company; in a smaller
proportion, they mentioned an interest in starting a business, working in research and/or teaching, which
shows that it is necessary to motivate the latter possibilities, to achieve this, the School of Informatics
has an elective course to motivate students in this part of entrepreneurship and is expected to encourage
students to participate in research projects of the institution
50
Among the skills developed, the following were identified in order of highest to lowest: analytical
skills, oral communication, teamwork, conflict resolution and leadership, followed by written
communication, listening skills, and the ability to listen to others. These soft skills are currently in high
demand by IT companies, so it is evident that throughout the career of Information Systems Engineering,
students manage to develop them.
Female students leaned their choice of work in software engineering and development, followed by
programming and support, quality assurance, telecommunications, servers, and server administration.
These are the emphasis of the course for the first two years of the course as students leave with a Diploma
in Computer Applications.
This exploratory work allows us to reflect on the incorporation of women in the IT area, which allows
us to look for alliances and initiatives to promote the participation of women in IT careers, with projects
at a national and even international level.
All students of the School of Informatics should be motivated to participate in activities and courses
that foster personal and psychosocial skills. Especially to female students, as an additional mechanism
to further encourage more female students to complete their studies in the area.
It is important as a stimulus, to let high school students know studies of women who have excelled
especially in the world of engineering, as well as workshops on women in STEM, testimonials of
successful women in the area. Figure 1 shows a summary of the strategies to be designed within the
School of Informatics.
Hold workshops to showcase the outstanding work and progress of women in this area and related
fields. To achieve this, we hope to organize events on very specific dates such as Women's Day, the Day
of the Girl Child, and Women in Science, among others. Since they are important spaces in which they
can be used to generate enriching spaces for the exchange of knowledge.
Currently, the School of Informatics, in conjunction with the activities promoted by the National
University to make the careers known to the national population [20], however, it is necessary to carry
out more activities during the year where models of women who have worked in this area are presented.
It is recommended that, “Disseminate success stories and female references with women and
researchers who share their testimonies Propose telecommuting possibilities and/or flexible schedules to
attract women with children or family commitments.” [5].
Some students recommended holding meetings of advanced and beginner women to discuss how they
are progressing along the career path, share tips and how they have achieved their goals. They also
suggest holding conferences to provide information about the career, the profile of the graduates and
opportunities in the labor market.
It is important to create sites with information on scholarships, training, tips on how to get a job,
contacts with potential mentors or women coaches in the area of IT and computing [5].
It is also recommended to create support groups for women students, formed by professors of the
area, graduates and advanced students, for which purpose the School of Informatics will be looking for
the creation of such spaces.
8. References
[1] Women, O. N. U. U. Gender equality. Mexico 2015. Available: http://igualdaddegenero. unam.
mx/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/onu-mujeres-igualdad-equidad. pdf.
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[3] UNESCO, “UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030”, Paris, France: United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (UNESCO). 2015
[4] OCDE, The ABC of Gender Equality in Education: Aptitude, Behaviour, Confidence, PISA,
Paris: OCDE Publishing, 2015. Available:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264229945-en.
51
[5] S. Cabrera, A. Quesada. Motivations of the Female Population in the Choice of the Informatics
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[6] E. Muñoz. Despite official speeches and global initiatives, science has a male face. UCR Life.
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[7] J. Gómez. Selection criteria are modified del “Program of Attraction, Selection, Admission and
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[8] Ministry of Science and Technology 2021, Available: https://www.micit.go.cr/
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[12] I. Hernandez, R. Arce Vargas, P.Fonseca Solano, H. Granados. The experience of
incorporating students into a university extension project. The case of the Project Training of
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[13] M, F, Vera. Infusion of soft skills into the higher education curriculum: key to the development
of advanced human capital. AKADEMEIA MAGAZINE. Vol. 15, Num. 1. V 2016. Available:
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[15] H. Perreault. Business educators can take a leadership role in character education. Business
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[16] Open Doors. 2021. https://www.vidaestudiantil.una.ac.cr/puertasabiertas
[17] M. Oliveros, E. Cabrera, B. Valdez, M. Schorr. Women's motivation for engineering and
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9. Acknowledgments
To the female students at the School of Computer Science of the Benjamín Núñez Campus, the Inter-
University Campus of Alajuela, and the Campus of Liberia for their collaboration in completing this
questionnaire.
52