Double Degree in Computer Science and Mathematics—the field of study pursued by the four female students who joined EC3Metrics thanks to the UGR’s Ícaro grants—was established in Granada in 2011. Since then, one of its defining characteristics has been the low female enrollment in its classrooms. This phenomenon is not as noticeable in other teaching degrees; however, in Computer Science and other double degrees (such as Mathematics and Physics, or Computer Science and Business Administration), the gap is equal or even wider.
This is not unique to the university environment. If we look at advanced academic career paths, women who succeed in becoming Principal Investigators (PIs) in projects funded by the State Research Agency (AEI) do not exceed 35% in most cases. Furthermore, in coordinated projects involving two researchers (PI1 and PI2), the number of women drops even further (these results are based on data from 2018 to 2023).
For this reason, at EC3Metrics we aim to investigate and, as far as possible, explain and alleviate this observed disparity to encourage women to enroll in these types of degree programs.
