Women in computing in Canada

Many in Canada share concerns about the current and future roles of women in computing, especially as these occupations increase in importance.

According to Statistics Canada, in 2009, there were 33,219 students nationwide enrolled in "Mathematics, computer and information sciences" coursework, with only 9,075 of them being women (27%).

At Waterloo, the percentage of the undergraduate population studying computer science that were women was only 11.5%, with a slight increase at the Master's (18.4%) and PhD (17.1%) levels.

Statistics Canada reports that in 2012, there were approximately 1,299,300 people employed in the "Professional, scientific and technical services", of which 548,800 were women (42%).

[2] Correspondingly, many institutions (both ones that are independently organized and ones that are funded by the Government of Canada through universities) have come into existence to inform and encourage potential computing students.

The percentage of students who are women enrolled in undergraduate computer science programs was 51.4% in Malaysia in 1991, greater than 50% in Singapore in 1987, and 55% in Thailand in 1998.

[16] In India, women graduates from IIT Bombay in engineering grew from 1.8% in 1972 to 8% in 2005,[2] which, although still low, is the opposite of the downward trend observed in North America.