Understanding Gender Diversity in Software Teams: Insights from a Systematic Literature Review

In recent years, social factors, particularly gender diversity, have gained increasing prominence across multiple fields, including software engineering. The inclusion of individuals from diverse gender identities within software development teams has been shown to enhance creativity, improve software quality, and enable more effective decision-making. Despite these benefits, significant barriers still impede the full integration of gender-diverse individuals in development environments. This study conducts a systematic literature review to examine how gender diversity within software development teams impacts collaboration dynamics and team performance outcomes. A total of 55 publications from 2018 to 2025 were analyzed. The findings indicate that gender diversity strengthens team cohesion and fosters more inclusive, innovative, and productive work environments. It also enhances key aspects such as creativity, innovation, and overall software quality, leading to improved team performance. Nonetheless, the review also highlights ongoing challenges faced by gender-diverse professionals, including limited access to leadership roles, persistent discrimination and gender bias, and insufficient recognition of their contributions. These results underscore the multifaceted impact of gender diversity in software development, emphasizing both its significant benefits and the structural challenges that must be addressed to fully harness its potential in the field.