Women and Computer Engineering: Current panorama

By Crescencio Bravo (Director of the Higher School of Informatics)

At International Day of Women and Girls in Science I wanted, first of all, to congratulate all of them and all the citizens who believe in Science and in gender equality. At the Escuela Superior de Informática de Ciudad Real we work to contribute a grain of sand to the promotion of vocations in women in the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), to the creation and dissemination of female references and progress in terms of equal opportunities in the ICT sector, from the classroom and through all our research, transfer, promotional, cultural and social activity.

The report Facts and figures of the Spanish University System [1] publishes an x-ray of Spanish universities every year. The report corresponding to the 2021/2022 academic year quantifies the percentage of women who took the University Access Tests in 2020 at 57,8%, for a total figure close to 295.000 candidates. Already at the University, in the course corresponding to that access, in 2020/2021, the percentage of women enrolled ranged from 25,7% in Engineering and architecture and 71,4% in Health Sciences. Overall, 55,6% of the total were women (56,0% in Bachelor's, 55,4% in Master's and 50,1% in Doctorate).

Focusing on Castilla-La Mancha (CLM) and undergraduate studies, and extending the time horizon to the last three academic years (2019/2020-2021/2022), we can see that the Science have a higher percentage of women in CLM compared to the whole of Spain (around 10% more) [2], while in Engineering the percentage is practically the same in the two geographical areas, around 24%. Our career, Computer Engineering, is one of those with the least female presence: in the specific case of our School, this is below 20%, although this presence has increased by 2 points in the last 5 courses.

According to X-ray of the gender gap in STEAM training [3], published by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, the gap in the choice of studies by gender does not tend to close, but rather continues to widen in recent years in STEAM disciplines -Arts are added to STEM, adopting a perspective of creativity and innovation - and particularly in Computer Science. This report confirms that Primary Education is the stage in which more influence is needed to motivate the interest of girls and adolescents in STEM and Information Technology and in the training and professional trajectories related to these disciplines.

Looking back at the labor market, the number of women currently occupying ICT positions is estimated at 30%, requiring at least 120.000 women to respond to the growing demands for employment in this sector [4]. This is leading many companies to implement specific programs such as open houses, training and certification programs, conferences and competitions that prioritize mixed or all-female teams in order to further the industry's potential for female talent. and improve their employability.

This panorama of declining enrollment and the gender gap should lead all the agents involved to reflection and action.

In the field of dissemination, yesterday we highlighted the figure of royal mahboob on our website, an activist and entrepreneur who has not only fought for the role of women in Technology, but for equality and freedom in her country of origin. I would also like to mention other female figures in the history of computing that we bring students closer by naming some of our classrooms, all of them referents in their time in different projects: Ada Lovelace, who worked in the XNUMXth century on a mechanical computer for general use; Hedy Lamarr, inventor who made important contributions to wireless communications; Grace Murray Hopper, who popularized programming languages ​​and created COBOL, and Ángela Ruiz Robles, a Spanish inventor who conceived a mechanical encyclopedia, considered the first electronic book in history.

This week we are supporting the claim of this day with a series of activities carried out in collaboration with other UCLM centers on the Ciudad Real campus, within the framework of the project Witty Women:

• This Thursday, February 9, our colleagues will attend a p of scientists between 11:00 and 14:00, in front of the Polytechnic Building.
• On Friday we will attend the act at 10:00 a.m. Adventure with Scientists, in the Auditorium of the Rectorate. At 11:30 a.m. we will receive a group of primary school students in the ESI Assembly Hall and We will transfer the testimonies and experiences of 5 computer scientists (teachers, researchers and engineers).

On the other hand, these days we live in a very dynamic context in terms of news and results related to large information technology companies. In addition to the striking layoffs of employees, there are also suggestive advances, especially in terms of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Before the pandemic, the technology industry did not stop growing and profit expectations drove investments, generating new employee needs and large hires [5]. The irruption of the pandemic caused, on the other hand, a sudden increase in the logistics business and certain technological services. But overcoming this global health problem has slowed growth. And, in parallel, the war in Ukraine is deteriorating the macroeconomic scenario, and a recession and high inflation are anticipated.

These factors explain the current phenomenon of cuts in the workforce, since these cannot be maintained at their current levels to ensure the sustainability of large technology companies. It should be noted, however, that the current personnel figures (once the cuts have been assimilated) are much higher than those of 5 years ago.

Paradoxically, the sector is in a stage of great fertility in terms of disruptive projects based on advances in AI. Service Chat GPT, promoted by Microsoft, has now been joined by a competing proposal, Bard [6], presented by Google; and intelligent tools that promise to make professional music creations, such as MusicLm [7], imitate the human voice, such as VALL-E [8], and generate artistic and realistic drawings, such as DALL-E-2 [9], are followed by the announcement. ].

Faced with these phenomena, we need the storm to pass, that of the ups and downs caused by large contracts resulting from excessively rapid growth and ambitious expectations and AI development strategies, motivated by extraordinary advances but not without risks in multiple dimensions.

And the underlying challenges require the best talent and demand the adoption of a global, honest, balanced, ethical and egalitarian vision of things, without gender bias and far from stereotypes. Vocations cannot stay by the wayside, and people must make decisions without negative influences or conditions and with equal opportunities, so that dreams can be expressed freely.

With this vision we teach and work at the University. That 20% of enrollments will soon be 30% and that 30% of ICT positions will soon be 40%, and these percentages continue to grow as far as we all want and the progress and well-being of society leads us, with equality, responsibility and naturalness.

Crescencio Bravo, director of the ESI

References

[1] Facts and figures of the Spanish University System 2021-2022. Ministry of Universities, 2022, https://www.universidades.gob.es/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Datos_y_Cifras_2021_22.pdf

[2] INE (National Statistics Institute). Statistics of Students Enrolled in Degree,  https://www.universidades.gob.es/estadistica-de-estudiantes/ (Note: the data for the 2021/2022 academic year are provisional)

[3] X-ray of the gender gap in STEAM training. A detailed study of the educational trajectory of girls and women in Spain. Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Equality Unit, 2022, https://sede.educacion.gob.es/publiventa/radiografia-de-la-brecha-de-genero-en-la-formacion-steam-un-estudio-en-detalle-de-la-trayectoria-educativa-de-ninas-y-mujeres-en-espana/ciencia-espana-igualdad-de-genero/25710

[4] How to promote female employment in technology from the company. Cinco Días, El País Economía, 6/Dec/2022, https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2022/12/05/fortunas/1670258161_244493.html

[5] Latest tech sector layoff looks ugly. But it may not be as bad as you think. USA Today, 7/Feb/2023, https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2023/02/07/tech-layoffs-2023-google-amazon/11135692002/

[6] Google Bard: what it is, how it works and what you can do with artificial intelligence that will compete with ChatGPT. Xataka, 7/Feb/2023, https://www.xataka.com/basics/google-bard-que-como-funciona-que-puedes-hacer-inteligencia-artificial-buscador

[7] Google has created an AI that creates music from text, but is afraid to publish it. Computer Today, 28/Jan/2023, https://computerhoy.com/tecnologia/musiclm-google-inteligencia-artificial-texto-musica-1191422

[8] VALL-E, Microsoft's AI capable of imitating voices. Very Computer, 10/Jan/2023, https://www.muycomputer.com/2023/01/10/vall-e-la-ia-de-microsoft-capaz-de-imitar-voces/

[9] DALL-E 2, an in-depth guide: what it is, how it works and all about OpenAI Imaging AI. Genbeta, 23/Jan/2023, https://www.genbeta.com/a-fondo/dall-e-2-guia-a-fondo-que-como-funciona-todo-que-necesitas-saber-ia-generacion-imagenes-openai