Women’s Participation in Student Software Development Teams: A Cross-Sectional Study on Role Distribution

The underrepresentation of women in the software engineering field remains a challenge in both academia and industry. While enrollment numbers remain low, there is also limited research on how responsibilities and roles are distributed within student software development teams, particularly through a gendered lens. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the relationship between team gender composition, female leadership, and the distribution of technical roles among women in SE teams. We analyze data from 628 students—183 of whom were women—across 85 software development teams over seven years. Through predictive analysis, we test three hypotheses: (1) whether women in teams with fewer female members are less likely to assume highly specialized technical roles, (2) whether the presence of a woman in a leadership position increases the likelihood of other women taking on highly technical roles, and (3) whether the distribution of roles among women varies across different student cohorts. Our findings provide partial support for the first and third hypotheses. Women are generally less likely than men to occupy highly specialized technical roles; however, this likelihood is not significantly influenced by the gender ratio within teams. Similarly, while role diversification among women has increased over time—particularly in positions such as Scrum Master and Report Manager—this trend appears to be driven more by declining male participation in certain roles than by increased female engagement. Contrary to our second hypothesis, having a woman as team leader does not significantly impact the likelihood of women assuming highly technical roles. The insights from this study contribute to a deeper understanding of gender dynamics in SE education and highlight the importance of fostering inclusive environments that support diverse role exploration and long-term engagement for women in software engineering.