Inclusion of women to ICT engineering – lessons learned

Abstract

This paper address how we may understand inclusion strategies designed to reduce the gender gap in higher education in engineering and ICT engineering in particular. Based on a case study of a long-term inclusion effort and statistics on recruitment and retainment, we argue that inclusion initiatives which address important inclusion needs and put down a substantial effort are likely to be successful. However, such changes seem to be not very sustainable, and need continuous effort. Based on our findings and a review of previous research we argue that inclusion efforts are instrumental in gaining a higher share of women in ICT, but that the win may be short-lived. We suggest that there is a need also to work for a higher share of women faculty to obtain more sustainable recruitment and retainment of women in ICT. Moreover, we found that the probability of dropout among men students was systematically reduced with increased gender balance, which indicates that more gender-balanced programs are more attractive to remain in for both men and women.