In Tuttowelfare, Mirta Michilli recounts the Coding Girls experience and calls for measuring change over time
Women accounted for 59.6 per cent of those who graduated with a degree in Italy in 2025, but their representation drops to 40.5 per cent in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). This percentage has remained largely stable for the past ten years, but falls even further in computer science and engineering courses: just 14.8 per cent of first-cycle graduates in Computer Science and ICT are women.
These are some of the findings from the 28th AlmaLaurea Report 2026, which forms the focus of the in-depth analysis Women and STEM in Italy: the gap that begins well before university and continues into the workplace, published on 15 October by Tuttowelfare. The article, written by the editor-in-chief Valeria Gelosa, concludes the series E Equality Put to the Test by the Data: Motherhood, Pay, STEME and brings together reflections from AlmaLaurea, the Polytechnic University of Turin and the Director-General of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, Mirta Michilli.
The figures reveal an inequality that takes shape long before the choice of university, through stereotypes, family and social expectations, cultural norms and perceptions of one’s own abilities. And it continues to manifest itself even after graduation, in professional opportunities, pay and career paths.
Envisioning the future before making a choice
It is precisely on the ability to envisage one’s own future that Mirta Michilli focuses, drawing on the experience of Coding Girls and now Coding Girls & Women – the programme through which the Fondazione Mondo Digitale has for years been promoting women’s participation in innovation via workshops, collaborative challenges and meetings with female researchers and professionals. “That’s why I like to say that before you can choose a path, you need to be able to imagine yourself following it.”
Career guidanceB thus becomes a tangible experience, enabling young women to try out skills, meet people they can identify with and discover opportunities previously perceived as out of reach. The way professions are portrayed also plays a decisive role: the most effective testimonials convey authentic journeys, made up of choices, second thoughts, difficulties and daily achievements.
From Disciplines to Hybrid Pathways
In the interview, Michilli also urges us to broaden our perspective on technological skills. Computing, data and artificial intelligence now cut across various academic disciplines, from linguistics to communication, and from cultural heritage to the social sciences. The Digital Humanities represent one of the most significant examples of this convergence, which opens up new possibilities for education and employment and calls for a more nuanced understanding of women’s participation in innovation.
Measuring change over time
Among the issues raised in the in-depth analysis is that of impact assessment. After years of career guidance programmes, university initiatives, scholarships and projects aimed at girls, how much do we know about the long-term effects?
For the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, this remains an ongoing challenge.
The experiences gathered over the years bear witness to changes in the participants’ aspirations and self-confidence, but tools are needed to track the evolution of educational and career paths even three, five or ten years down the line. This is a crucial step towards understanding which interventions truly succeed in broadening opportunities and tackling persistent inequalities.
The reflection concludes with a principle that captures the deepest meaning of the educational commitment to equality: ‘Equality does not require girls and boys to be distributed equally across all disciplines. It requires that everyone be able to forge their own path, with the same range of possibilities open to them.’
Read the full feature on Tuttowelfare, edited by Valeria Gelosa.
