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Canada shares many of the concerns particularly prevalent in the developed and developing world about the current and future roles of women in computing, especially as these occupations increase in importance. As in much of the world where computing and information technology is a large industry, women have historically faced underrepresentation in education and industry. As a result, some Canadian women pursuing careers in these fields have had a lack of role models and faced sexism. There are many institutions and initiatives in Canada, however, which seek to increase representation for women in computing fields, as well as the fields of natural science and engineering in general.
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In education
As is typical in North America, the enrollment for women in computing disciplines at the post-secondary level is significantly lower than for males. According to Statistics Canada, in 2009, there were 33,219 students nationwide enrolled in “Mathematics, computer and information sciences”, with only 9,075 of them being women (27%). This is significantly lower than 3 years earlier (2005/2006), when the percentage of women was 37%. The fact that, in general, the enrollment of women in computer science and related disciplines is actually declining is mirrored in the US.
Another summary published by Statistics Canada shows that this trend is not recent; between 1992 and 2007, the number of annual female university graduates in computer science has remained roughly constant (with a slight increase between 2000 and 2004), whereas the number of male graduates has increased approximately 50% (with the 2004 value almost double that of the 1992 value). Relatively speaking, there were about twice as many male graduates as female in 1992, and three times as many in 2007.
A study looking at enrollment based on program and gender was done at the University of Waterloo in 2010, and the results were especially egregious (even compared to the nationwide statistics from the previous year). At Waterloo, the percentage of the undergraduate population in computer science that were women was only 11.5%, with a slight increase at the Master’s (18.4%) and PhD (17.1%) levels. Waterloo, being one of the only universities in Canada to have a higher percentage of male students than female, is an extreme example, but the trend is constant across many computer science departments in the country.
In the workforce
As of 2011, the GDP of the Canadian Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector was $62.7 billion, and grew at an annualized rate of 3.8% between 2002 and 2011 compared to 1.9% for the overall economy, reflecting the importance of the industry in Canada. Despite this importance, the percentage of women working in the industry unsurprisingly mirrored that of the percentage of women receiving computing education. Statistics Canada reports that in 2012, there were approximately 1,299,300 people employed in the “Professional, scientific and technical services”, of which only 548,800 were women (42%). This category also includes those working in legal and accounting services (which are typically much more gender balanced), so the actual percentage working in the computing field is likely much lower than this.
Attempts to address inequalities
Although the reasons for the lack of participation of women are multifaceted and are not fully understood, it is accepted that they partly stem from the perceived image of the field, a lack of understanding of what work in the field consists of, and a lack of encouragement. Correspondingly, many institutions (both ones that are independently organized and ones that are funded by the Government of Canada through universities) have come into existence to inform and encourage potential computing students. As well, many universities and other organizations offer gender-specific scholarships in attempts to increase enrollment numbers.
Institutions and organizations
Canada has several not-for-profit organizations dedicated to supporting women in computing disciplines.
Many Canadian universities also have resources designed for women in underrepresented disciplines such as computer science.
Initiatives and scholarships
Several scholarships exist for Canadian women in computing (some of which being international).
Many universities also have programs in place to encourage interest in computer science, especially for high school students.
Celebrations of Women in Computing Events
Several region-based celebrations, modeled after the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women conference, have taken place over the past several years in conjunction with the ACM-W:
The Ontario Celebration of Women in Computing (ONCWIC):
The Atlantic Celebration of Women in Computing:
The Pacific Northwest Celebration of Women in Computing:
International comparison
Many of the statistics reported by Canadian studies and agencies are similar to those found in North America as a whole. In the US, the percentage of computer science degrees awarded to women dropped from 37.1% to 26.7% between 1984 and 1998. As well, a recent survey indicated that less than 12% were awarded to women in 2010-2011. Like Canada, the US has many scholarships and initiatives in place to attempt to address this (e.g., the Anita Borg Institute).
Asia exhibits some different trends. In Southeast Asia, a more equal gender distribution in the discipline has been reported. Cultural reasons have been cited for this, as well as the perception that computing is an employable field, which results in greater parental encouragement to pursue careers in the field regardless of gender. The percentage of students who are women enrolled in undergraduate computer science programs was 51.4% in Malaysia in 1991, greater than 50% in Singapore in 1987, and 55% in Thailand in 1998. In India, women graduates from IIT Bombay in engineering grew from 1.8% in 1972 to 8% in 2005, which, although still low, is the opposite of the downward trend observed in North America.
The statistics for Europe show an even smaller participation than North America for some countries, and a slightly higher participation for others (primarily Scandinavian countries). The Czech Republic had 9.6% women enrolled in 2001, Germany had 10.5% in 2000, the Netherlands had 6.6% in 1999, Slovenia had 6.7% in 1999, and Switzerland had 11.4% in 2001. By contrast, Finland had 20% in 1997, Iceland had 24% in 2000, Norway had 23.2% in 1999, and Sweden had 30% in 2000. The United Kingdom was approximately in the middle at 19% in 1999.