The impact of event design choices of an online women-focused hackathon on participants and mentors

Abstract

Hackathons are often viewed as not being inclusive to women, who have low participation in these events. Reasons for this include low self-esteem in STEM fields, toxic environments, bad sleeping habits during the event, and a competitive atmosphere. Hackathons also can be a valuable opportunity for undergraduate students to improve their skills, but a lack of gender diversity can prevent women from taking advantage of these opportunities. Usually, hackathons include mentoring to support the participants in improving their skills during the event. Recently, initiatives have been implemented to increase the number of women partic- ipating in hackathons, such as women-only events, balancing participants by gender during the selection process, and using feminist and social themes for the hackathon. Our qualitative study investigated how event design choices (Focus on Women; Event support activities such as mentoring and pre-pitch; and Event warm-up activities) can influence the participant’s and mentor’s experience in a women-focused hackathon. Data was collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews with participants and mentors.