Interventions, and Programs to Support Girls Studying Information Technology in Senior Secondary School

Despite the increasing number of initiatives aimed to promote Information Technology (IT) among secondary school students, the number of women engaging in the field is still low. The purpose of the study is to determine if established, targeted interventions or events influence female students to undertake an IT degree. The study used a questionnaire instrument to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. 119 first-year female students enrolled in IT degrees in Australia were surveyed and 84 participants included in the analysis from a sample size of approximately 300 students. We found that women perceived interventions as motivational, especially those promoting coding. Most women who participated in the survey studied IT in secondary school. From a diversity perspective, this highlights the importance of these subjects in the secondary school curriculum and the efforts needed to attract women to this subject early. We also found that parents, friends, and teachers are instrumental in women's choices. Participants also mentioned the increased presence of technology in everyday life, awareness of the available jobs in the field and the financial security offered by them, as a reason for choosing their current degree. The multitude of factors influencing women's decision to choose a degree in IT shows this is a complex phenomenon, suggesting that there might not be a single silver bullet that could address the low number of women in IT.