Hacking Gender Stereotypes: Girls' Participation in Coding Clubs

In this paper, we focus on a project aimed at fostering coding and social skills of girls called Girls Code It Better implemented in Italy. We analyze gender gaps in academic interests and perception of barriers to achieve own career goals, as well as how girls applying to the coding clubs differ from those that decide not to apply. First, we show that there are substantial gaps in academic interests since middle school, with girls being less interested in STEM compared to boys despite the higher willingness to attend university. Girls are also more likely to perceive their own gender and their ability as a barrier to achieve their educational goals. Second, we show that girls who self-select into a coding club are different compared to other girls: in our sample, we can rule out a substantial differences in parental education and occupation that may affect take-up, but girls applying to coding clubs have higher interest in pursuing STEM and they are more likely to perceive own gender as a barrier for their educational goals. Programs aimed at increasing girls’ interest in STEM may be effective in closing the gender gap if they manage to “hack” gender stereotypes and perceived barriers of high-achieving girls.