Impact Analysis of Gender Biases and Gender Stereotypes in the Sri Lankan Software Engineering Field

The software engineering field is one of the most prominent industries worldwide. Compared to other industries, the representation of women in this field is much lower. It has been found that gender stereotyping and gender bias as two of the major issues for this phenomenon. Poor representation of women and less career opportunities for women can be seen in Sri Lankan software engineering field also. Still, studies have been not conducted on concerning effects of gender bias and gender stereotypes on Sri Lankan software engineering field. Hence, this study aims to identify the impact of gender biases and gender stereotypes on the Sri Lanakan software engineering field. As the initial step, systematic review of literature was carried to find out prevalence of gender stereotypes and gender bias in the software engineering field and how they effect on the employee's career and job satisfaction from past studies done in other countries. Further, studies conducted related to this area within Sri Lankan context was identified through this. A conceptual framework was developed by taking insights from past literatures, and data were collected through an online questionnaire survey from employees who work in the ICT industry related to the software engineering field in Sri Lanka. The results of the study showed that gender biases have a lesser impact on career choice, career opportunities and job satisfaction. Gender stereotypes have a lesser impact on career choice, career opportunities and job satisfaction. The gender slightly moderates the relationships between gender stereotypes and career opportunities, gender stereotypes and job satisfaction. In conclusion, gender bias and gender stereotypes significantly impact on the Sri Lankan software engineering field. Through this, Software Engineering industry can focus on these factors and take necessary steps to uplift the software engineering field.