Where are the marathon Girls?: An Analysis of Female Representation in the Brazilian ICPC Programming Marathons

TL;DR

Despite evidence that intellectual ability is not gendered, Brazilian female participation in ICPC Programming Marathons remains low. The paper employs a LAKATOS-informed bibliographic study and quantitative analysis of SBC IT-course data (2011–2020) and ICPC Marathon data (2008–2022) to quantify female representation in higher education IT and in Programming Marathons. Findings indicate female participation in the first phase fluctuates but stays below roughly $15\%$; data from OBI also show limited female success at advanced levels, underscoring persistent gaps. The work highlights the need for targeted inclusion initiatives and outlines future methods to recruit, empower, and retain women in high-performance programming competitions, with potential impact on diversity in the tech sector.

Abstract

Education motivated the encouragement of female participation in several areas of science and technology. Programming marathons have grown over the years and are events where programmers compete to solve coding challenges. However, despite scientific evidence that there is no intellectual difference between genders, women's participation is relatively low. This work seeks to understand the reason for this adherence, considering the gender issue in Programming Marathons over the last years, in a real context. This work aims to understand the context of female representativeness in which the intellectual aspects do not differ in gender. Still, there is a considerable discrepancy in female belonging.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: Comparison between men and women in IT courses
• Figure 2: Number of Women in the first phase per year
• Figure 3: Women Percentage in the marathon first phase(2008 to 2022)
• Figure 4: Comparison of Men and Women (2008 a 2022)
• Figure 5: Comparison of Women versus Men by year