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Cited by 66Open Source Software InnovationsGender and Technology in EducationSoftware Engineering Techniques and Practices

Including Everyone, Everywhere: Understanding Opportunities and Challenges of Geographic Gender-Inclusion in OSS

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Prana, Gede Artha Azriadi, Ford, Denae, Rastogi, Ayushi, Lo, David, Purandare, Rahul, Nagappan, Nachiappan·2022·IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
DOI 10.1109/tse.2021.3092813
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Abstract

The gender gap is a significant concern facing the software industry as the development becomes more geographically distributed. Widely shared reports indicate that gender differences may be specific to each region. However, how complete can these reports be with little to no research reflective of the Open Source Software (OSS) process and communities software is now commonly developed in? Our study presents a multi-region geographical analysis of gender inclusion on GitHub. This mixed-methods approach includes quantitatively investigating differences in gender inclusion in projects across geographic regions and investigate these trends over time using data from contributions to 21,456 project repositories. We also qualitatively understand the unique experiences of developers contributing to these projects through a survey that is strategically targeted to developers in various regions worldwide. Our findings indicate that gender diversity is low across all parts of the world, with no substantial difference across regions. However, there has been statistically significant improvement in diversity worldwide since 2014, with certain regions such as Africa improving at faster pace. We also find that most motivations and barriers to contributions (e.g., lack of resources to contribute and poor working environment) were shared across regions, however, some insightful differences, such as how to make projects more inclusive, did arise. From these findings, we derive and present implications for tools that can foster inclusion in open source software communities and empower contributions from everyone, everywhere.

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Authors
Prana, G. A. A., Ford, D., Rastogi, A., Lo, D., Purandare, R., & Nagappan, N.
Affiliations
  • Singapore Management University (SG)
  • Microsoft (United States) (US)
  • University of Groningen (NL)
  • Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IN)
ORCID
Venue
IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Published
2022-09-01
Volume
48
Issue
9
Pages
3394-3409
ISSN
  • 0098-5589 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-3520
  • 2326-3881
DOI
10.1109/tse.2021.3092813
OpenAlex
W3090829210
Cited by
66
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 3
FWCI
9.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (publishedVersion)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • Singapore Management University Institutional Knowledge (InK) (Singapore Management University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Funders
  • Research Lab for Intelligent Software Engineering
  • School of Computing and Information Systems
  • Singapore Management University
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Open Source Software Innovations
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender and Technology in Education
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Techniques and Practices
Keywords
gender diversity, gender inclusion, open source software, geographic region, GitHub, developer contributions, developer communities, Africa

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