Are women becoming extinct in the Computer Science and Informatics Program?

Abstract

In recent times a dramatically decreasing tendency in female participation in Computer Science has been documented around the world. When this occurs, it creates a series of problems that must be addressed. For the case of the undergraduate and graduate programs in Computer Science and Informatics at the Universidad de Costa Rica, we present evidence that (a) women are under-represented at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and (b) the relative frequency of women in the undergraduate (but not graduate!) levels is effectively decreasing, and (c) women are more efficient at both graduating and getting admitted to graduate programs. Based on the available data, we confirm that the differences are not because of some inherent female deficiency but due to gender issues.