Computing and STEM in Greece: Gender representation of students and teachers during the decade 2002/2012

Female student representation in Computing and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Tertiary education is under-researched in a number of countries including Greece, while studies on female secondary level education teacher representation in Computing and STEM have not yet been reported. This study focuses on the investigation of gender representation of tertiary-level education students (freshmen, graduates, master’s degree graduates and PhD’s) and of secondary-level education teachers in Computing and STEM education during the decade 2002–2012 in Greece. A quantitative study was conducted taking into account appropriate data that emerged from the Hellenic Statistical Authority which is the national statistical service of Greece. During the studied decade:(a) Females were less prevalent than males at all levels of study in Computing and Engineering, (b) the number of males did not exceed that of females in Physics (freshmen, graduates and master’s degree holders) or in Mathematics (graduates),(c) Female teachers were less prevalent than males in Computing and STEM,(d) Computing female schoolteachers are better represented at all levels of secondary education compared to the representation of their female counterparts in the rest of the disciplines of STEM education,(e) There is no pipeline shrinkage between female freshmen and graduates of undergraduate studies in Computing and STEM and there was also no female dropout from level (undergraduate studies) to level (master’s degree studies) in Greek Computing, Physics and Engineering departments. It seems that the main problem is recruitment and not retention in Computing and STEM, despite female under-representation in most of these disciplines.

[1]  Suzanne G. Brainard,et al.  A Six‐Year Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Women in Engineering and Science * , 1998 .

[2]  Allan Fisher,et al.  Unlocking the Clubhouse : Women in Computing by Allan Fisher , 2015 .

[3]  Maria Kordaki,et al.  Course Selection in Computer Science: Gender Differences , 2014 .

[4]  Mark Guzdial,et al.  A CS1 course designed to address interests of women , 2004, SIGCSE '04.

[5]  L. Meek,et al.  American Association of University Women , 1929 .

[6]  Tracy Camp,et al.  An ACM-W literature review on women in computing , 2002, SGCS.

[7]  William A. Wolf.  Diversity in Engineering , 2006 .

[8]  Jill Denner,et al.  Computer games created by middle school girls: Can they be used to measure understanding of computer science concepts? , 2012, Comput. Educ..

[9]  F. Korthagen,et al.  The Teacher Educator as a Role Model. , 2007 .

[10]  Richard E. Ladner,et al.  Introduction to Special Issue (Part 1): Broadening Participation in Computing Education , 2011, TOCE.

[11]  Russell K. Schutt,et al.  Research Methods in Education , 2011 .

[12]  S. G. Mazman,et al.  Gender Differences in Using Social Networks. , 2011 .

[13]  Tracy Camp,et al.  'Computing, we have a problem …' , 2012, INROADS.

[14]  Eric B. Weiser,et al.  Gender Differences in Internet Use Patterns and Internet Application Preferences: A Two-Sample Comparison , 2000, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[15]  Gloria Childress Townsend,et al.  People who make a difference: mentors and role models , 2002, SGCS.

[16]  Rosanna E. Guadagno,et al.  Gender differences in mediated communication: Women connect more than do men , 2013, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[17]  G. Denise,et al.  Investigating the Incredible Shrinking Pipeline for Women in Computer Science , 2003 .

[18]  Margaret M. Burnett,et al.  Gender HCI: What About the Software? , 2006, Computer.

[19]  Maria Kordaki,et al.  Gender Differences and Achievement in Computer Science: A Case Study , 2015 .

[20]  Linda Serra Hagedorn,et al.  A Social Cognitive Construct Validation: Determining Women's and Men's Success in Engineering Programs , 2007 .

[21]  C. Geisler,et al.  Survival Analysis of Faculty Retention in Science and Engineering by Gender , 2012, Science.

[22]  Susan M. Haller,et al.  Gender differences in computer science students , 2003, SIGCSE.

[23]  C. Hill,et al.  Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. , 2010 .

[24]  Maria Kordaki,et al.  Undergraduate studies in computer science and engineering: gender issues , 2006, SGCS.

[25]  R. Layton,et al.  Persistence, Engagement, and Migration in Engineering Programs , 2008 .

[26]  Allan Fisher,et al.  Unlocking the clubhouse: the Carnegie Mellon experience , 2002, SGCS.

[27]  J Mcgrath Cohoon,et al.  Recruiting and retaining women in undergraduate computing majors , 2002, SGCS.

[28]  William Aspray,et al.  A Critical Review of the Research on Women's Participation in Postsecondary Computing Education , 2008 .

[29]  R. Cialdini,et al.  Online persuasion: An examination of gender differences in computer-mediated interpersonal influence. , 2002 .

[30]  Kathryn L. Boucher,et al.  Why so Few , 2017 .