The underrepresentation of women in the tech industry is a significant issue, and Bianca Trinkenreich, a former software development project manager in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is working to address it. During her time as a Ph.D. student at NAU, she delved into the reasons behind the low participation of women in open-source software development.
Trinkenreich’s research, conducted at the Software Engineering Research Laboratory, led her to uncover the factors contributing to the underrepresentation of women in software development. Her work, published in her dissertation, earned her a prestigious award from the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Software Engineering. As the first Brazilian and Latin American recipient of this honor, Trinkenreich has made significant strides in addressing diversity and representation in the tech industry.
She attributes the low representation of women in tech to the historical origins of open-source development, which began as a predominantly male domain. Trinkenreich is focused on challenging this narrative and driving change within the industry. In her dissertation, she proposed various strategies to promote inclusivity, including showcasing women and minorities in recruitment materials and company media assets to encourage their participation in software engineering.
For more information on Trinkenreich’s research, you can access her dissertation. Her groundbreaking work has shed light on the challenges faced by women in tech and has offered actionable steps to create a more inclusive environment. This is a significant step towards addressing the gender disparity in the tech industry.
