Cultural differences of female enrollment in tertiary education in Computer Science

Abstract

Since the establishment of computer science courses in the last 30–40 years both female enrollment and its development differ strongly between various continents, countries, cultures, religions and languages. It is remarkable that female participation is extremely low in German (and Dutch) speaking countries, in Scandinavian countries and Great Britain, compared to the other European countries. In many Western countries female participation in computer science courses has dropped since 1970 by more than 50 percent. This has not occurred in semi-developed countries, like the South American ones, the rich Arab_countries, the Tiger_states or India, nor has it occurred in the developmental countries in Africa.Within our cultures the values of gender equality, freedom and deconstruction of gender differences often are used as arguments for a naturalization of these gender segregations in professions. But the observation of the differences in various cultures shows clearly that there are no inherent, but contingent reasons for such segregations. For example within the new countries of Germany it can be observed what effects reunion had on the female enrollment in computer science.In this paper after showing the numbers of female enrollment in tertiary education in Computer Science in various countries I want to give explanations and theories for these differences. It will turn out that there is no evidence for natural explanations of competence and interest in computing, as well as in mathematical and technical subjects. The findings in turn may give hints how to change the situation of women in Computing within our culture.