Gender Disparity in the Governance of Software Engineering Conferences

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss gender disparity in software engineering (SE) conferences. We have examined the roles of General Chair, Program Chair, and main track Program Committee members in six highly ranked conferences in SE for a period of ten years in order to understand the pattern of gender disparity in visible roles. We also present the opinions elicited from ten participants on this topic, who have served at some of these SE conferences in leadership roles. Our aim is to reflect on the current state and initiate the debate, on gender equality in SE conferences.