Women in IT: A Work Ecosystem Perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT The literature devoted to gender imbalance in the IT industry tends to focus on women’s experiences within organizations. We extend the flexible careers model to account for the role of an IT work ecosystem formed by interconnected organizations and individuals involved in shaping and supporting IT work. Based on a thematic analysis of 46 interviews of women employed in IT roles in New Zealand, we demonstrate that their experiences in negotiating gender discrimination and work-life balance issues are best understood in terms of their interactions with the IT work ecosystem, rather than solely in terms of interactions within individual organizations. The participants identified themselves with the ecosystem and perceived their careers as progressing within the ecosystem. Their experiences were often gendered, but gender dynamics could play to their advantage, such as in steering them toward managerial or sales roles associated with greater power and autonomy than technical roles.