Compared to women in the United States and most European countries, Arab women are highly represented in information and Communication Technology (ICT) and related computing fields. According to UNESCO data, six of the ten countries with the highest rates of women studying ICT are in the Arab world.

This disparity has been labeled a “gender-equality paradox” by researchers in the field of psychology. A 2018 study published in Psychological Science attempted to explain why women pursue STEM fields in greater numbers in countries with less “gender equality,” according to measures like the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index. The study concluded that “low prospects for a satisfied life might potentially be an incentive for girls to focus more on science in school and,as adults,choose a career in a relatively higher paid STEM field.”

However, framing the outcome as a paradox obscures women’s agency and the diversity of their experiences across both global South and global North contexts. In 2017,an interdisciplinary team of researchers conducted a targeted survey of members of the institution Arab women in Computing. The survey included 521 students, academics, and practitioners working in the computing and tech fields, representing 17 Arab nationalities, responded. The study was supplemented by in-depth interviews with 27 women at various stages in their careers.

The study revealed a wide range of reasons for their participation in these fields, including a desire for personal growth, independence, and a desire to improve their societies. This challenges explanations that focus solely on economic factors.

For the past two decades, female students in the Arab world have outperformed their male counterparts on global standardized tests of math and science abilities.

Two prominent exams used to track global rankings in STEM at the K-12 level are the Trends in international Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). These tests have functioned as a measure of educational progress around the world. Some countries have organized their curricular timelines and educational goals around the goal of achieving higher national rankings.

In the Middle East, these tests have become a proxy for educational quality. As thay were first administered in the region, girls have outperformed boys in math and science in the overall averages.

Many women reported that their first encounter with gender stereotypes around computing was when they left the region. One woman from the UAE explained, “It was not until MIT that I first experienced discrimination.” Nour, a systems manager for a major transportation hub, remembers first becoming aware of gender stereotypes related to her expertise when she traveled abroad for a conference and was treated as an exciting novelty. She was frequently approached to be interviewed and everyone wanted to talk about Arab women in computing.It made her realise that when it comes to the field, “the Arab world was unique.”

While many women have faced challenges throughout their careers, the path has also been rewarding. Manal, a computer science graduate from Jordan who started her own company, complained about how her day-to-day tasks had shifted to sales and meetings when she transitioned to owning her own company taking away her time to program.”I don’t find the time to write anything, but I still love it,” she said. “I wouldn’t be upset if I gave up the company to someone else and I just wrote code.”

Rawan, a software engineer from Jordan, described a project she was involved in focused on creating more internet content in Arabic. The project was responding to the dearth of Arabic language material that provides “in-depth, critical articles or content pieces covering different aspects of technology and how we use technology to communicate, or the intersections of technology and politics.” Her reasons for participating were simple, “I want to be part of it.”