Women In Information Technology Research Articles

Women in Tech Communities: challenges and risks

This work aims to present new results of ongoing doctoral research on female technology communities, initially published in the Annals of XV Women in Information Technology 2021. New debates on inclusion, empowerment and education in these groups will be related to new theoretical fields such as data feminism and platformization besides a framework based on Edgar Morin's Paradigm of Complexity to point out advances, risks and threats of this activism.

Societal Barriers that Hinder Maldivian Women from Succeeding in Information Technology Sector Jobs

The under-representation of women in Information Technology (IT) sector in the Maldives reflects in the overall under-representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and in paid employment in general. Despite the challenges, a significant number of Maldivian women complete higher education in IT, but very few succeed to make a life-long career in IT. Hence, the purpose of the research presented in this paper was to analyze the societal barriers that impact Maldivian women pursuing IT-related careers. The findings of this correlational study revealed that antiquated thinking, gender discrimination, and marital status were perceived to have a higher significant negative impact on Maldivian women pursuing IT-related careers, while work-home conflict or the double burden of domestic work and work demands, and age discrimination had a lesser perceived correlation. The findings have implications for policy on promoting gender equality in the workforce in the Maldives.

“Meninas também sabem programar”: relato de experiência de um projeto sobre gênero e informática no ensino médio

Resumo: Esse artigo consiste no relato de um projeto de ensino realizado na disciplina de Sociologia com estudantes de um curso técnico em Informática integrado ao ensino médio. Ao abordar a temática das desigualdades sociais, pretendemos compreender as desigualdades de gênero a partir da inserção das mulheres na área da informática. Além disso, buscamos resgatar a história de cientistas da computação que contribuíram para o desenvolvimento da área e promover a escuta de mulheres estudantes e profissionais da área; buscando entender o espaço que elas ocupam nesse cenário e como se sentem pelo fato de serem mulheres e atuarem em um setor que, em geral, tem presença predominantemente masculina. O projeto desenvolveu-se a partir de estudos teóricos sobre as desigualdades, da análise de dados sobre a desigualdade de gênero e sobre a inserção das mulheres na informática. A partir das discussões em aula, surgiu a proposta de realizar uma exposição sobre cientistas da computação e também de fazer um documentário com narrativas de mulheres atuantes na informática. A realização da atividade possibilitou aos envolvidos uma reflexão mais profunda sobre o tema e o despertar para a identificação de situações de desigualdade e de discriminação de gênero, desencadeando a necessidade da continuidade de ações para discutir esse tema.
 Palavras-chave: Gênero. Informática. Ensino.

Analysis on Satisfaction using Interference as Mediator

Job satisfaction explains the comfort and the content with the job of an individual. The enjoyment that an individual receive while performing the job makes the result of the job a favorable one and result in high level of satisfaction. Family satisfaction is the amount of happiness shared by the family members to fulfill their needs and interests. This study gives emphasis on both job and family satisfaction. This study tries to find out whether interference of work to family has any influence to family satisfaction and family-work interference has any influence on the job satisfaction. Understanding these aspects and bringing changes based on that can transform the work place to a fruitful place for growth and sustainability. More women are entering to information technology companies and contributing much to the success of the organization. Study is focused to women in information technology to find out the interference and satisfaction. Four selected information technology companies based in Bangalore are considered for the study. Questionnaires are prepared and emailed to the women employees. Three hundred and seventy one samples are collected. Full time women employees with minimum of one year experience in that particular company are considered in the study. In this study Hayes Regression test is done to find out the effect of mediating variable between dependent and independent variables. From the study it is found that mediating variables like work-family interference and family-work interference is not mediating between job satisfaction and family satisfaction and vice-versa.

A Study on the Gender Digital Divide: Overcoming the Under-Representation of South African Women in the IT Sector

In South Africa, women are grossly underrepresented in the Information Technology (IT) sector result of gender stereotyping and discrimination. According to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) Report (2017), only 21% of executives in the IT sector are women. This has caused high unemployment of women IT graduates. The purpose of this study therefore is to explore and investigate the antecedents that influence and impact the phenomenon of the gender digital divide in South Africa. The study explores new antecedents of the digital gender divide that influences motivation of women to participate in the IT sector. This study used a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews of South African women in the IT sector. The rich volume of data collected was analysed via a thematic analysis. The analysis confirmed existing antecedents gleaned from literature and also uncovered three new dimensions, namely, networking, impartial mentorship and HR as motivators for women in the IT sector. The findings of the study also provides for a better understanding on the barriers that perpetuate the unequal gender gap problem especially in managerial and leadership roles.

“Undoing” Gender: how the School of Science, Engineering and Information Technology (SEIT) Women’s Group works across university and community lines to promote inclusive STEMM.

Research on gender and education in industrialised and developing countries suggests that schools and universities are sites of ‘doing’ rather than ‘undoing’ gender. Deutsch (2007) contends that ‘doing gender’ refers to social interactions that reproduce conventional and limiting notions of gender construction and that ‘undoing gender’ refers to social interactions that reduce gender difference and open up other possibilities. In this paper we consider how educational institutions can be strategic sites of influence in undoing gender and we investigate some ways that gender is ‘undone’ through the example of the work of the Science, Engineering and Information Technology Women’s Group (SEITWG) located in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Federation University Australia. For this purpose, a self-study methodology understood as a professional reflection was used. The paper explores how the informal coalition of SEITWG works as ‘wilful subjects’, on the one hand, coming up against some of the ‘brick walls’ of dominant discourse that attempt to limit women’s participation in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine). On the other hand, SEITWG attempts to move beyond the restrictions of conventional gender narratives to encourage more women to participate in STEMM by foregrounding the presence of women already active in the area; mentoring women students and staff; supporting a range of their colleagues’ endeavours to research and teach for inclusion; embedding gender analysis into the curriculum; and promoting workplace cultural change.

Women in IT Management: Significant Gains and Continuing Challenges

ABSTRACTThe roles of women in the workforce have changed significantly over the past several decades. While there has been considerable progress made by women into leadership positions, this progress has been slow. This article explores factors that may impact the ability of women in information technology (IT) to move into leadership positions. Data collected for the Society of Information Management IT Trend Study for 2015, 2016, and 2017 were analyzed, and corporate characteristics that impact female advancement into leadership positions were explored. Results suggest that there are opportunities for women in IT. The percentage of women in positions of leadership is steadily increasing in a wide range of industries. However, there is an evidence to suggest that industry’s gender composition as well as company size (revenue) may impact the gender of the IT leader. Also, some interesting differences in performance measures based on the leader’s gender are discussed.

The Role of Social Media in Empowering the Involvement of Women in Information Technology: A Case Study of Al-Qalam and Umaru Musa Yar’adua Universities

The under-representation of the women in the field of Information Technology (IT) in Nigeria has been closely observed over the last decade. One of the facts is that social media have been widely and intensively used in Nigeria, which is an effective way to empower women in the IT sector. This study aimed to investigate the role of social media in empowering the involvement of women in information technology. In order to achieve the objectives of this study the current study conducted a survey amongst the female students of Al-Qalam and Umaru Musa Yar’adua Universities and tried to find out how the use of social media is contributing to the growth of women involvement in the IT sector. For this purpose, a sample of 200 female students was taken from these Universities via convenience sampling techniques. The quantitative method was used to collect data for this study. The findings in this study revealed that there was a significant relationship between women’s awareness and the encouragement of women in the IT sector through the use of the social media. Besides, there was a significant relationship between the empowerment of women and the encouragement of women in the IT sector through the use of the social media. Hence, women’s awareness and empowerment of women through the social media encouraged the involvement of women in the IT sector. In addition, this study recommends that there is need to examine the relationship between women and social media in various sectors such as government, healthcare, aerospace and security in order to trace the real role of social media in empowering the involvement of women in information technology in Nigeria.

Factors Influencing Successful IT Women's Career Choices: A Qualitative Study

Women and minorities continue to be underrepresented in information technology (IT) career fields. In thisstudy, we examined critical self-descriptions of women who selected and excelled in information technologycareers. Analysis of six narratives revealed that family support, teachers, and hands-on learning experienceswere critical sources of women's development of self-authorship leading to selection of an IT career path.Findings from this research suggest intervention strategies for parents, teachers, and counselors that willencourage more women to pursue careers in information technology.

Compromising gender identities

PurposeGiven the limited research on women in information technology (IT) sectors in emerging economies and the importance of understanding their experiences working in highly gendered IT firms, the purpose of this paper is to examine the specific gendered strategies used by women engineers to stay in gender-atypical IT firms in Sri Lanka using job embeddedness as a theoretical lens.Design/methodology/approachData collection was done through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions on a sample of 14 women engineers employed in five leading IT firms in Sri Lanka.FindingsRespondents perceived the work role expectations in the Sri Lankan IT industry as masculine. Respondents compromised their own gender identities to engage in four distinct strategies to link and fit with the prevailing work role expectations. “Using a hybrid style” and “being passive and neutral” were respondents’ link strategies, while “adopting masculine traits” and “demonstrating self-confidence” related to their fit strategies.Research limitations/implicationsMen and women who aspire to enter the IT sector need to be pre-prepared and educated about the characteristics of IT cultures and prevailing gender norms along with the subject knowledge. Managers of IT firms need to create positive work environments for their women employees that aid them to fit and link with their workplaces.Originality/valueThe study provides a deeper understanding of how women manage gender-related issues within gender-atypical IT firms in Sri Lanka and stay in their employment.

Work–life balance: how can we help women IT professionals in Morocco?

Purpose The present study aims to understand how Moroccan women working in information technology (IT) perceive the roles they fulfill in both their private and professional lives and assess their Work–life balance (WLB). Design/methodology/approach Existing research about WLB in Morocco focuses mainly on the public sector. As the present study is the first of its kind to deal with the private sector and more specifically IT, it is exploratory in nature while adopting a qualitative methodology. Twenty Moroccan women working in IT companies in the city of Casablanca were interviewed. Collected data were analyzed using a content analysis approach. Findings It emerged from the data analysis that adhering to the cultural assumption of being the pillar of the household and to the culture of respondents’ organizations seems to be a key factor in employee WLB. Three main recommendations stemmed from the current research, namely, increased maternity leave duration, workplace nurseries and telework, may help IT female employees improve their WLB and well-being. Research limitations/implications First, the study participants were selected by one individual, which may create a “sampling bias”, where one specific profile of IT specialist could be selected. Second, only IT workers took part in the study and no IT employers were interviewed, which may yield having only “one side of the story”. Practical implications The results that emerged from the current study, particularly the three main recommendations made by the 20 interviewees (increase of maternity leave duration, workplace nurseries and telework) may be used by different IT companies in the hopes of improving female employees’ WLB and well-being. Overall, employers ought to put in place measures and accommodate employees to help them reconcile their work and personal life commitments. Social implications It has been documented that lack of WLB can result in increased stress, deleterious effects on psychological and physical well-being and increased family and marital tensions (Burchell et al., 2001; Lewis and Cooper, 1999; Scase and Scales, 1998). Therefore, various stakeholders, in addition to employers, such as the government and IT employees’ families should work collaboratively to implement meaningful WLB arrangements and, in turn, prevent the negative effects of work–life imbalance through, among others, government policy interventions. Originality/value The present study is the first of its kind that looked into the perception of WLB among Moroccan women operating in the IT industry. It offers valuable insights about how to assist female Moroccan IT workers to reconcile their work and personal life commitments.

Continuing the Discourse of Women in Information Technology: A South African Perspective

Currently, there is a worldwide decline in the participation of women in the information technology (IT) profession and education. This article continues the existing discourse on women in IT by discussing the South African domestic and IT work environments. The aim is to understand whether South African women experience similar levels of career problems in the IT industry as their international counterparts. Using critical interpretive analysis, we used the experiences of 48 women working in the private sector IT firms to investigate not only what attracts women in South Africa to the IT industry but also what discourages them from following a career in this field. The data were collected by means of an anonymous online questionnaire consisting of open- and close-ended questions. This study provides an insight into the impact of domestic influences on women in the IT industry in South Africa. It also contributes to communities, such as, feminists, academia, practitioners, or governments, in the creation of an emancipation theory or a series of interventions to improve the situation for women in the South African IT industry.

Diversity management and organizational change

Purpose – Set against a background of numerous institutionally funded programmes with a focus on gender mainstreaming, the purpose of this paper is to draw on institutional theory as an alternative lens to explain why such programmes often fail to achieve the desired outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a case of a European Social Fund EQUAL Programme aimed at enhancing employment opportunities for women in Information Technology, Electronics and Communication and related sectors. The paper focuses on the partnership working aspect, which is a fundamental mobilizing structure of European Commission programmes. Insights into the experiences of partnership working were gathered from interviews with 18, out of the 24 participating partners, on this specific programme. Findings – Tensions with partnership working are exposed and discussed: frustration with intra-organizational collaborative working and structures and outputs that promote a mimetic approach to change, legitimized through the symbolic use of “best practice”; findings more consistent with “institutional isomorphism”, as opposed to “institutional innovation”. Social implications – Given that partnership working remains a key mobilizing structure of gender mainstreaming programmes, both within Europe and in other contexts, the paper concludes with recommendations aimed at those responsible for commissioning and overseeing such programmes. Originality/value – This paper draws on institutional theory as an alternative lens to examine and explain why gender mainstreaming programmes do not always achieve the intended outcomes. To date, as others acknowledge, there has been limited work that has applied organizational theory to this problem.

Diversity Management Change Projects: In Need of Alternative Conceptual Approaches?

Drawing on a meta-analysis of an evaluation of a European Social Fund project aimed at enhancing employment opportunities for women in Information Technology, Electronic and Computing (ITEC), this paper critically debates how effectual a diversity management approach alone is as an underpinning rationale for change in the complex area of diversity. The paper draws on the experiences of ‘partner organizations’, gathered through interviews conducted during the evaluation stage of the project. The paper discusses some of the tensions experienced by partner organizations, thus providing new insights into why such projects are not as effectual as they might be. The paper concludes by presenting a case for the need to re-conceptualise how change as part of a wider diversity management approach might best be conceptualized. We suggest that a ‘systems approach’ could prove a more fruitful way of conceptualizing change of this nature given the inter-dependences between different organizations and institutions.

A study on stress and depression experienced by women IT professionals in Chennai, India

Our study explores the influence of age and experience on stress and depression and the relationship between stress and depression among women information technology (IT) professionals in Chennai, India. The present study aimed (1) to find out the level of stress and depression experienced by women IT professionals, (2) to understand the impact of age and experience on stress and depression, and (3) to study the relationship between stress and depression. The study was conducted in Chennai, India with a sample of 500 women IT professionals. The sample selection was done by a convenience sampling method. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive one-way analysis of variance and Pearson's correlation test. Results showed that the women IT professionals experience moderate level of overall stress and stress dimensions. This study also reveals that 84% of the respondents experience medium level of depression and also suggest that age and experience significantly influence the overall stress and depression experienced by the employees. Our study shows that there might be a strong relationship between overall stress and depression.

The under-representation of women in information technology and computing in the Middle East: A perspective from Jordan

This paper presents the results of a study on the participation of women in computing and information technology (IT) in Jordan. It investigates the percentages of women at all levels of education—from the secondary level through the graduate level—and their participation in the IT workforce. Women in Jordan are still under-represented in the computing and IT fields, and my study explores possible reasons for the under-representation and what can be done to increase women's participation. Despite the fact that the worldwide participation of women in computing has been declining steadily to very low levels, that is not the case in Jordan. This study found that the percentage of Jordanian women in the IT field is rising and far exceeds that of women in the U.S. and Canada. Indeed, increasing women's participation in computing in Jordan is vital to the economy and to the country's sustainable development.

Not just a dollhouse: whatThe Sims2can teach us about women's IT learning

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe how a popular computer game, The Sims2, engages players in computing practices that are foundational to information technology (IT) fluency, and to draw implications for engaging young people, particularly girls and women, in computer‐related learning.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is framed within a conceptual perspective on learning as a process of acquiring situated understandings through participation in meaningful activity. The paper draws on two years of work with girls developing IT fluency through playing and modding The Sims. It also draws on interviews with adult women who are highly engaged in creating Sims content.FindingsThe paper identifies a set of practices inherent in Sims game play that are foundational to IT fluency: managing complex systems; cheating and glitching; tinkering with tools; and making, manipulating, and reasoning with spatial representations.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests how existing practices associated with games might be leveraged for the development of IT fluencies.Originality/valueThis study contributes to efforts aimed at rethinking how educators might conceptualize and support the development of IT fluencies. The paper offers new perspectives on the nature of IT fluency in the context of participatory culture and productive uses of new media.

Perceptions of ICT Careers in German Schools: An Exploratory Study

This paper reports on an exploratory investigation of the perceptions of information and communication technology (ICT) as a field of study and work in German secondary schools. A total of 160 students from five secondary schools in Lower Saxony participated in the study in February 2007, and four teachers of the students were interviewed. The investigation is part of the research carried out by the authors within the Griffith University Women in Information Technology (WinIT) project, which has been studying the problem of low female participation since 1995. In this paper we discuss German school students' (male and female) and their teachers' views of ICT, its use at school and home, their influences in using technology, and their ideas about working with technology in the future. We drew on the challenges faced and opportunities available to teachers in the study to put this in context. We found that many senior secondary students have not decided what they want to do when they finish school, suggesting that the environment is ripe for them to receive relevant and useful information that may help them to choose to study tertiary ICT courses. By dispelling negative ICT perceptions and allowing students to make an informed choice as to whether to take up a career in ICT, we can hopefully encourage more students into this ever-growing and exciting industry.

Women at work: Differences in IT career experiences and perceptions between South Asian and American women

AbstractA growing minority representation in the information technology (IT) workforce coupled with a “youth bulge” in developing Asian countries are indicative of increasing diversity in the U.S. IT workforce. For researchers and practitioners, this diversity raises new management concerns. To better comprehend these emerging issues, this study compares career experiences and perceptions of South Asian women in the U.S. IT workforce with those of American women IT professionals. In doing so, it contrasts social, cultural, and individual factors that impact these career experiences. Interviews revealed that while most women from South Asia did not identify career genderization in the workplace, American IT professionals perceived greater stereotyping and discrimination. Although both groups equally felt the pressures of worklife balance, the impact of these pressures on long‐term commitment to IT careers was felt differently across the two groups. Differences also are evident in perceptions of IT work, mentoring relationships, and coping mechanisms relied upon by the two groups. The article concludes with recommendations for improved diversity integration in the workforce and provides suggestions for future research in multicultural settings. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Communities of Exclusion: Women StudentExperiences in Information Technology Classrooms

Despite important enrollment gains in science and engineering majors, women students are still conspicuously underrepresented in information technology (IT) programs. Previous research has reported that women students are isolated and less confident in their IT courses and, ultimately, become discouraged by competitive classroom environments. In this article, I extend previous research on the classroom experiences of women IT students through a series of ethnographic observations aimed at understanding classroom discourses. Rather than focusing on women students’ challenges, I focus on classroom spaces, interactions, and community characteristics. I argue that the four classroom contexts included in this study can be described in terms of two discourses: discourses of power and discourses of disengagement-discourse patterns the women students in this study have limited access to and utility with. These understandings can be beneficial to faculty and student affairs professionals as they seek to improve classroom communities for all students.