Compared to 2019, the number of women admitted to university IT programs in Denmark has increased by 13 percentage points this year, which means that a total of 32 percent of new students studying IT are women.
This year’s admission numbers were not compared to 2020 or 2021 due to expansions in admissions programs during the pandemic.
Put off by stereotypes
Freya Fuglø, a 21-year-old Danish girl, has just been admitted to the computer science course at the Copenhagen Business Academy.
Before she learned about the profession, she confessed to DR that she had some prejudices about stereotypical IT workers.
“Programming can seem so complex that you have to be a genius to take on the job,” she said.
But after learning more about the profession, she found that interest and patience were the real keys to success. She is now looking forward to starting her studies, and she also hopes that even more women will choose this profession.
Gender diversity is important for the labor market
Lene Rehder, head of studies at the IT University, is pleased with the trend.
“IT has reached the whole of society. The products that serve our lives must have both a male and a female perspective,” he says to DR
“There are actually other aspects of diversity, but gender diversity is by far the biggest aspect lacking in the IT industry, and that’s why we’re most concerned about it.”
Education policy leader Mads Eriksen Storm agreed that it was important that IT “is developed by both men and women, which ensures a representative population”.
Source: The Nordic Page