Women in IT Careers

Introduction Goal of the Research Numerous researchers have indicated that a particular piece of misinformation, the perception of Information Technology (IT) professionals as being geeks and loners, may be one of many explanations for the under-representation of women in Information Technology. In particular, Jepson and Perl (2002) identified a nerdy image of IT people as one of six reasons that girls do not choose IT careers. Hazzan and Levy (2006) identified a geeky and loner image as one of three factors discouraging women from IT careers, positing that women are more likely to be interested in careers involving more interaction with people. Margolis and Fisher (2002) suggested that women are more likely to be affected by the geek stereotype than men are, and thus, when women do not experience an intense obsession with computers, they are more likely to contemplate whether they really belong in the IT field. Eglash (2002) described the geek identity as not only a gender but also a race concern that acts as a gatekeeper and paradox in the participation of science and technology as it potentially hinders diversity. The purpose of this research was to determine if girls in the United States, ages sixteen through eighteen, at the age when they are making university and career choices, do indeed view IT professionals in this negative way. Significance of the Issue The geek/loner issue is important for multiple reasons. The predicted growth of IT jobs in the United States (Hecker, 2005), the shortage of IT professionals (McGee, 2005), and the under-representation of women in the IT field have raised serious concern regarding the US technology workforce in the 21st century (Camp, 1997; Grant, Knight, & Steinbach, 2006; Holzer, 2006; Lazowska, 2002; Sanders, 2005). According to the employment outlook for 2004-2014 by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (Hecker, 2005), and mathematical science occupations are projected to increase 30.7 percent, an additional 967,000 jobs. Of the 30 fastest-growing occupations during this time, six are in computer-related disciplines: network systems and communications analysts, application software engineers, systems software engineers, network and systems administrators, database administrators, and systems analysts. A 2005 study by the Society for Information Management (cited in McGee, 2005) lists critical shortages in IT project management and business domain experts for 2005-2008. McGee (2005) cites two reasons for the shortage of IT professionals. A 10 percent decline from 10 or 15 years ago in the number of students majoring in technology-related degrees has been estimated. Some universities report upwards of a 50 percent decrease in enrollment in these degrees. As baby-boomer professionals begin retiring, an expertise shortage will exacerbate the situation. There has been an 18.5 percent decline in the percentage of women in the IT workforce since 1996 (Information Technology Association of America, 2005). Women composed 32.4 percent of the total IT workforce in 2004. A third of these women are in administrative occupations such as data entry keyer and computer operator. If these administrative occupations are removed from the calculations, women IT professionals and managers fall to 24.9 percent, virtually the same percentage as in 2002. Over the past two decades, the number of young women in the US pursuing careers in Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) has significantly decreased. The National Center of Educational Statistics (2005) reported that in 1984, 32,439 undergraduate students received bachelor's degrees in CIS. Men represented 20,416 of the total (63 percent), while women were 12,023 (37 percent). However, in 2004, 59,488 students received their bachelor's degrees in CIS of which 44,585 (75 percent) were men and 14,903 (25 percent) were women. Thus, the percentage of CIS majors who are female has dropped from 37 percent in 1984 to just 25 percent in 2004. …

This paper discusses professional women's perceptions of the skills required for working in the information technology (IT) industry with respect to the skills women bring to IT work and how the skills contribute to their career progression. The paper references interviews with ten women IT professionals who were asked to describe their entry into the IT industry, their perceptions of IT careers and the skills requirements for success. It was found that an ability to switch between different types of skills (people skills and technical skills) and to adapt to different IT environments contributed to the career progression of women in the IT industry. In the newer areas of IT such as electronic commerce, the ability to switch between one skill set to another is important for the success of such applications. It is suggested that the misrepresentation of the specialization available in the IT industry is an important factor contributing to the gender gap at higher managerial levels and it can only be closed if the range of skills, aptitudes and career paths are made clear to the women.

Why do so few women major in computer science (CS) or management information systems (MIS)? Are the reasons for women’s underrepresentation in these two disciplines the same? I will address these issues by reporting on my research on female and male undergraduates majoring in CS or MIS. I hypothesize that results from one area of information technology (IT), such as CS, do not necessarily generalize to other areas of IT, such as MIS. Structural barriers exist that keep women from advancement in IT careers (cf. Ahuja, 2002). However, an examination of these is beyond the scope of this article, which focuses on gender differences in IT students. In 2002 only 27.6% of U.S. Bachelor’s degrees in CS and 36.8% in MIS were conferred on women (U.S. Department of Education, 2002), limiting the number of women qualified to enter into the IT workforce. The problem of women’s under representation in IT is not limited to the U.S. Women are underrepresented in CS majors in other Western countries such as Canada (Gadalla, 2001), Germany (Huber, Reiff, Ben, & Schinzel, 2001), Norway (Berg, Gansmo, Hestflatt, Lie, Nordli, & Sorenson, 2002), and Ireland (MacKeogh, 2003). IT cannot afford to underutilize such a valuable and significant part of the workforce. Increasing the representation of women is imperative because “greater diversity among those who create computing technology ensures that those technologies are relevant to and usable by a wider range of people” (Roberts, 2003).

Women are largely underrepresented in the Information Technology (IT) workforce. Our research examines the factors related to the work environment that may contribute to the high turnover of women in the IT workforce. There is substantial research providing support for the relationship between job and organizational factors, on one hand, and quality of working life (QWL) (e.g., low job satisfaction and high job strain), on the other hand. In this paper, we conduct secondary data analysis of questionnaire survey collected from a sample of 1,278 employees of a single organization. We examine the impact of gender and job type (i.e. IT job versus non-IT job) on various indicators of quality of working life, as well as on the relationship between job and organizational factors (i.e. feedback, autonomy, skill variety, task significance, task identity and work pressure) and QWL. Results show that IT workers reported higher job satisfaction and lower job strain than non-IT workers. Gender had no impact on QWL. Feedback and autonomy were consistently related to job satisfaction, and work pressure was consistently related to job strain, irrespective of gender and type of job. On the other hand, women IT workers' job satisfaction was affected by work pressure, and women IT workers' job strain was affected by task significance. Women IT workers' job strain was not affected by autonomy, whereas job strain experienced by non-IT workers was affected by autonomy.

The lack of a definition about the meaning of Information Technology (IT) applied to Architecture and Urbanism in the existing legislation was the motivation towards the development of this research. The goal was to analyze the teaching of Applied IT on undergraduate courses in Architecture and Urbanism. The adopted research methodology, consisted of field surveys to verify how the Brazilian undergraduate courses in Architecture and Urbanism interpret this term when offering disciplines, whose content is identified as Applied IT in correspondence with Ordinance n 1.770/1994 issued by the Ministry of Education -MEC. This regulation brought flexibility to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to exert autonomy and slight flexibility in structuring the curriculum guidelines of their own educational projects. HEIs and their undergraduate courses related to Architecture and Urbanism were drawn from the e-MEC system. The universe of this study, IT applied to Architecture an Urbanism disciplines and contents, was drawn from each HEI's Website. In order to know the profile of the teachers responsible for the disciplines of Applied IT, an online questionnaire was submitted to them. Rsums of each of the teachers who responded to the questionnaire were downloaded from the Lattes Website. The survey reveals the various nomenclatures given to disciplines related to Applied IT and different contents for the same designation in several courses of Architecture and Urbanism. Analysis of course contents reveals the prevalence of 2D and 3D CAD. GIS is already offered in several Architecture and Urbanism courses. The trend is towards the introduction of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Most courses offer two Applied IT disciplines, however there are courses offering three or more, up to fifteen disciplines. Sixty class hours is prevalent for Applied IT disciplines. Applied IT disciplines are typically on the 3rd and 4th course semesters. The sample identified that the majority of Applied IT teachers who responded to the questionnaire acquired computer skills in undergraduate and sought ways to learn about Applied Computer Science through open courses and postgraduate programs. Results of previous studies on this theme, served as a basis to advance and expand the analysis of various factors. During this research the author felt the need for creating a database for querying and presentation of surveyed data (teachers, courses, HEIs and Applied IT disciplines). A suggested model of such database for future studies is presented in Appendix J. The academic preparation of future architect professionals regarding new technologies should require a constant effort from HEIs in updating their educators.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to determine if perceptions that women and men hold toward careers in information technology (IT) and toward women working in IT create potential barriers that may prevent women managers from pursuing careers in IT.Design/methodology/approachA field study was designed to test the hypotheses. The subjects were graduate students pursuing either an MBA or IT management degree.FindingsThe results revealed that males had greater self‐efficacy for IT occupations, greater passion for computing, and less positive attitudes toward capabilities of women in IT. Our prediction that career barriers would intensify for women who chose an IT management option was not supported. These findings suggest that traditional work role expectations concerning women's efficacy for careers in IT still persist.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was limited by its focus on subjects in the early stages of a management career. To gain a better understanding of the barriers that women face in IT career fields, longitudinal studies are needed to track these barriers throughout the career development process.Practical implicationsIf organisations want to attract, retain, and advance women managers in IT fields, they must proactively address gender role biases and create work environments that build self‐efficacy expectations for women, as well as for men.Originality/valueMuch of the research on career barriers women face in IT is based on qualitative studies and anecdotal evidence. This study provides empirical evidence that barriers still exist for women in IT despite the enhanced demand for IT professionals and managers over the past decade.

This paper reviews the academic community's response through research and curriculum initiatives to the practitioner's requirements for a diverse information technology (IT) workforce. The paper then highlights opportunities for future IT research by matching current academic research to organizational diversity issues, exposing the gaps and opportunities therein. This issue is important because the call for a diverse workforce has been heard for some time now with varying degrees of implementation. Diversity in the workforce has multiple dimensions, from diversity in perspectives to diversity in terms of ethnicity,1 age, gender2 and disabilities. It will be shown that little if any IT research has addressed IT recruitment and management for diversity although the effects of this diversity on team processes and performance can and will impact organizational outcomes.

Using data from 159 African Americans and 98 Anglo Americans, we examined relations among ethnicity, gender, information technology (IT) self‐efficacy, occupational stereotypes, attitudes toward IT, and IT career intentions. Results revealed that IT self‐efficacy and occupational stereotypes were related to attitudes toward IT jobs, and these attitudes were positively related to career intentions. In addition, there were ethnic and gender differences in IT self‐efficacy and occupational stereotypes. In particular, African American men reported higher levels of IT self‐efficacy, whereas Anglo American women reported lower levels of IT self‐efficacy than did members of all other groups. Furthermore, Anglo Americans had more negative stereotypes of IT professionals than did African Americans. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

How do women, outnumbered and outranked, navigate work and careers in information technology? Only one in six information technology (IT) specialists in the UK is female. Such extreme male dominance potentially gives rise to a gender structure that affects women’s experiences of IT work. Using data from interviews with 57 technically skilled female IT professionals, we examine how women orient this gender structure and how they make sense of their gender identities as women working in IT. Our findings elucidate how the IT gender structure shapes women’s careers in this field of work. They reveal how women use their agency to assert notions of femininity into technical careers, disentangle narratives around whether women have unique and different (but less technically focused) strengths in IT and interface with ‘geek’ and ‘nerd’ identities to achieve successful IT careers. In doing so, they provide insight into how technical women continue careers within a structure that externalises them through gender norms. This understanding can be used to aid efforts to retain women within IT as well as other fields facing similar challenges.

Women are largely underrepresented in the Information Technology (IT) workforce. Our study examines the factors related to the work environment that may contribute to the high turnover of women in the IT workforce. The literature links Quality of Working Life (QWL) to turnover intention, and turnover intention to turnover. In this study, we conducted secondary data analysis of questionnaire data collected from a sample of 1,110 employees of a single organization. We examined the impact of gender and job type (i.e. IT job versus non-IT job) on various indicators of QWL, as well as on the relationship between job factors and QWL. The results show that, specifically for women in IT jobs, task identity is highly associated with QWL.

A career in information technology (IT) offers not only employment opportunities but also a potential source of economic advancement. To develop a more diverse and inclusive workforce and continue our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), it is important to understand the motivators and barriers in the various pathways to an IT career.

The research presented in this paper aims at investigating gender-based preferences for study choices made by male and female students studying information technology (IT) disciplines based on the methods of identifying and analyzing relevant IT study programmes in Serbia and Macedonia, and analyzing the students’ perception of the curricula and career opportunities. The methodology used to perform the research and to analyze the results was developed within the “Higher Education Leading to ENgineering And scientific careers” (HELENA) project.

In an attempt to address the underrepresentation of women in the information technology (IT) workforce it is important to understand the values and motivations of female professionals. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to examine career anchors of women in the IT workforce and how these factors are manifested in their careers. In doing so, we examine data from a field study of 92 female IT practitioners. Three important findings resulted from this exploration. First, technical competence and managerial competence are mutually exclusive. Second, a combination of career anchors for a given individual can be found. Third, career anchors vary in terms of temporal characteristics.

This chapter will examine the “retention gap” between the goals of gender and racial diversity and the workplace/management behaviors that affect retention of individuals in those groups. Women, as well as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans, are represented in the information technology (IT) workforce in percentages that are far lower than their percentages in the population as a whole. These populations are also under-represented in the educational programs that prepare people for careers as IT workers. While recruiting efforts are crucial for increasing the participation of women and minorities, it is equally important that we retain those already in the IT workforce. It is clear that nothing is gained by bringing women and minorities into the workforce to simply have them drop out or be weeded out. There is a need to deepen our understanding of retention issues for women and minorities in order to inform intervention strategies. This chapter addresses this need by providing an in-depth examination of factors affecting attraction, development, and especially retention of minorities and women in IS.

We combine new information technology (IT) offshoring and IT workforce microdata to investigate how the use of IT offshore captive centers is affecting the skill composition of the U.S. onshore IT workforce. The analysis is based on the theory that occupations involving tasks that are “tradable,” such as tasks that require little personal communication or hands-on interaction with U.S.-based objects, are vulnerable to being moved offshore. Consistent with this theory, we find that firms that have offshore IT captive centers have 8% less of their onshore IT workforce involved in tradable occupations; those without offshore captive centers have increased the proportion of onshore employment in these same occupations by 3%. In addition, we find that hourly IT workers (e.g., IT contractors) are disproportionately employed in tradable jobs, and their onshore employment is 2%–3% lower in firms with offshore captive centers. These findings persist after considering different measures of employment composition, including controls for human capital, firm performance, domestic outsourcing, and whether firms choose to build or buy software. Instrumental variables and corroborating regressions suggest that our estimates are conservative—the magnitude of the effect generally rises after accounting for reverse causality and measurement error. This paper was accepted by by Chris Forman, guest department editor.