Girls Sc(AI)ence 3: We Should All Be Feminists in Software Engineering

An online lecture and on-site seminar in the serie Girls Just Want To Have Sc(AI)ence.

Topic: We Should All Be Feminists in Software Engineering

When & where:  4 June May 2025

• 13.00 - 14.00: Hybrid lecture on zoom
• 14.15 to 15.00 On-site lecture plus workshop in M:Teknodromen, Klas Anselms väg 6 / Ole Römers väg 1,  Lund Sweden

Invited speaker: Letizia Jaccheri –  Professor of Computer Science,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

Read more about the  workshop series "Girls just want to have Sc(AI)ence” at ai.lu.se

Abstract

Software engineering is a paradigm of human activities that incorporates our problem-solving capabilities, cognitive aspects, and social interaction. Software is an infrastructure of all industries and societies around the world, serving global users of all genders. However, there is a current gender gap in both the development and operations of software products and services. In 2023, internet users reached 5.3 billion, constituting 65.7% of the world population. About 70% of males and 63% of females globally use the internet, but merely 5.17% of the worldwide software developer population (27 millions) is comprised of women.

Gender studies is a growing research topic in software engineering as it re-lates to the diversity and inclusion issues for performing and healthy teamwork. Several studies have been devoted to understanding the relation between gender and software engineering.

In the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and increasing automation in software industry, the role of humans is even more emphasized across age, culture and gender. However, the engagement of genders in Software Engineering is not uniform. It is important to address the gender gap in software engineering urgently when new AI intensive software systems are being created because there is a risk that AI generated software perpetuates sexist assumptions and ideologies.

Feminism can be defined as both a theoretical perspective and a social move-ment aiming to diminish and ultimately eliminate sexist inequality and oppres-sion. The concept of intersectionality explores the interconnectedness of social differences, including race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and nationality. Feminism draws attention to the systemic power dynamics emerging from the interaction of various dimensions of social difference across individual, institu-tional, cultural, and societal spheres of influence.

The goal of this lecture is to learn about software engineering and gender research, and to discuss the state of the art about gender issues in core topics of software engineering. The lecture will provide participants with a clear definition and understanding of Software Engineering and gender and explain the origins and historical context that led to the emergence of this field. The intended audience for the lecture includes researchers, software engi-neers, policy-makers, educators as well as anyone who is interested in the inter-section of technology and social issues.

This work is partially supported by the EUGAIN COST Action CA19122 - European Network for Gender Balance in Informatics.

Programme 4 June

13.00 - 14.00 Lecture (hybrid)

14.00 Coffee break

14.15 Workshop session

Registration

To participate is free of charge. Registration for online lecture or for both lecture and workshop on-site in Lund at ai.lu.se.

About the workshop series

While feminist approaches to technoscience are getting increasing attention, fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Human-Robot Interaction and Human-Computer Interaction are still male-dominated. Similarly, new technologies, from assistive robots to chatbots, are often imbued with the same intrinsic gender and ethnic stereotypes and biases present in our Western society. An increasing number of scholars have thus called for a feminist reboot, praising more ethical, sustainable and inclusive research practices and epistemologies in the hope of better technology. Our workshop series "Girls just want to have Sc(AI)ence" aims to foster knowledge and discussions on critical and feminist approaches to technology by engaging scholars working with AI from a variety of disciplines -from data science to art, political studies and philosophy, and invite them to reflect and imagine together how to use tools and theories from critical and feminist studies to implement more thcial, sustainable and inclusive technology-related practices and research.
More info can be found here: https://www.ai.lu.se/GIRLSCAIENCE 

This event is sponsored by WASP HS and Lund university profile area Natural and Artificial Cognition