It is no secret that females engage less in programming fields than males. However, in online communities, such as Stack Overflow, this gender gap is even more extreme: only 5.8% of contributors are female. In this paper, we use a mixed-methods approach to identify contribution barriers females face in online communities. Through 22 semi-structured interviews with a spectrum of female users ranging from non-contributors to a top 100 ranked user of all time, we identified 14 barriers preventing them from contributing to Stack Overflow. We then conducted a survey with 1470 female and male developers to confirm which barriers are gender related or general problems for everyone. Females ranked five barriers significantly higher than males. A few of these include doubts in the level of expertise needed to contribute, feeling overwhelmed when competing with a large number of users, and limited awareness of site features. Still, there were other barriers that equally impacted all Stack Overflow users or affected particular groups, such as industry programmers. Finally, we describe several implications that may encourage increased participation in the Stack Overflow community across genders and other demographics.

1. PARADISE UNPLUGGED:
Denae Ford, Justin Smith, Philip J. Guo, Chris Parnin
Identifying Barriers for Female Participation on
Stack Overflow

2. STORYTIME
ASHA, THE PROGRAMMER
3/8/2016 New Tab
Search Google or type URL
2

3. TROUBLE IN PARADISE

4. TROUBLE IN PARADISE
“A programmer’s paradise” (Atwood, 2008)
18.5 million developers in world
1
~32 million visits to SO monthly
2
5.8% v.s. 92.1%
4
2. http://bit.ly/2f4reV31. http://bit.ly/2f0naSo

5. WHY FEMALES ?!
5

6. V.S.
20%5%
Stack Overflow Software Engineers
6
[David 2008] [USBLS 2016]

7. 7
TARGET A FEW HELP MANY HI

8. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RQ1: What barriers do females face when contributing to
Stack Overflow?
RQ3: How do barriers to contribution vary by gender?
8

9. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RQ1: What barriers do females face when contributing to
Stack Overflow?
RQ3: How do barriers to contribution vary by gender?
9

10. SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
Personal usage of the site
How people communicate on the site
Personal incentives to using the site
10
22
1 of 22 in “SO Top 100 of All Time”*
Interview Topics
*http://stackexchange.com/leagues/1/alltime/stackoverflow
RQ1: WHAT BARRIERS DO FEMALES FACE WHEN CONTRIBUTING TO SO?
STUDENTS PROFESSIONALS
LURKERS ACTIVES

11. METHODOLOGY
11
#B
A Barrier is…
Stopping them from doing something
“….don’t contribute because….”
“… don’t post on Stack Overflow because…”
!
"
#
14

12. 14 BARRIERS
12

13. IMPERSONAL
INTERACTIONS
• Fear of Negative Feedback
• Stranger Discomfort
• Intimidating Community Size
• Posting Is Hard, Friends Are
Easy
ON-RAMP
ROADBLOCKS
• Abstraction Process
• Time Constraints
• Qualifications
• Onboarding Hoops
• Research Pressure
MUDDY LENS
PERSPECTIVE
• Awareness of Site Features
• Nothing Left To Answer
• Fear of Contributing to Clutter
• No ”Good-Answer” Guarantee
• Perception of Slacking
13

14. 14 BARRIERS
Qualifications
Stranger Discomfort
Perception of Slacking
14

15. “I don't feel like my expertise [is enough]
for me to actually post an answer that
would be of any help to anyone else.”
P1
QUALIFICATIONS
15
IMPOSTER SYNDROME

16. “I tend to save the question-asking with
people I [know and] feel more
comfortable with.’'
P7
STRANGER DISCOMFORT
16

17. “I just don't feel comfortable doing it at
work. You're deviating from your actual
development tasks. And when the
timeline is so tight, I try to get in and out
and back to what I'm supposed to be
doing.”
P21
PERCEPTION OF SLACKING
17

18. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RQ1: What barriers do females face when contributing to
Stack Overflow?
RQ3: How do barriers to contribution vary by gender?
18

19. METHODOLOGY
19
14

20. SURVEY
“How often is this a barrier for you?”
20
134 1336
RQ2: HOW DO BARRIERS TO CONTRIBUTION VARY BY GENDER?
3/8/2016 Stack Overflow Usage
Stack Overflow Usage
We are researchers conducting a survey on how software developers use the popular Q&A site,
Stack Overflow. We appreciate your voluntary help with this research study.
Many users on Stack Overflow never contribute to the site -- rarely asking questions, answering
questions, making comments, or voting. For those who do contribute, they often compete to
gain reputation points, which enables them to unlock more features on the site.
Please rate the following possible barriers in the degree that they stop you from contributing
more on Stack Overflow.
* Required
Qualifications *
I feel my expertise or answers would not be of any help to anyone else.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
Stranger Discomfort *
I feel uncomfortable interacting with and relying on help from strangers online.

21. RESULTS: BARRIER RATINGS
21
http://bit.ly/SOBarrierRatings

22. 22

23. STACK OVERFLOW OBSERVATIONS
Helpful Intentions: Participants want to help, but do not
feel like they can based on difficulty finding opportunities
to post
Language Divide: There are two types of language that
contribute to the unwelcoming atmosphere on Stack
Overflow: complex questions and idle “boy's club” chatter
23

24. PROGRAMMERS AGREE WITH BARRIERS
24

25. HOW COULD WE ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION?!
25
Help ANSWER Questions
Help ASK Questions
FUTURE WORK

26. Help ANSWER Questions▸ HELP ANSWER QUESTIONS
Ranking algorithm of questions
response time per user's skill and
question difficulty
▸ Encourages a wider range of
users with varied availability
[Leano 2016]
▸ HELP ASK QUESTIONS
Instead of discouraging users from
posting questions, enhance the
posting process with feedback
on the quality of the question
▸ Put in terms of how fast and
how likely it will be answered
FUTURE WORK
HOW COULD WE ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION?!
[Calefato 2015]
26

27. MAIN TAKEAWAYS
27TWEET BAIT -> STUFF FOR YOU ALL TO TWEET ABOUT
▸ BAD NEWS :(
▸ Paradise has some problems: Barriers exist
ACROSS genders, but some significantly hinder
females
@DenaeFord
▸ GOOD NEWS :)
Paradise is not completely lost: We have ideas how
to fix them….and we can AUTOMATE them!

28. http://bit.ly/SOBarriers
▸ BAD NEWS :(
▸ Paradise has some problems: Barriers exist
ACROSS genders, but some significantly hinder
females
▸ GOOD NEWS :)
▸ Paradise is not completely lost: We have ideas
how to fix them….and we can AUTOMATE them!
28
@DenaeFord

29. ++

30. HTTPS://GENDEREDINNOVATIONS.STANFORD.EDU/

31. Is this a real PROBLEM?
http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/195520/why-are-there-fewer-female-users-on-stack-
overflow