Understanding Women’s Presence in ICT: the Life Course Perspective

Considerable effort has been devoted to reaching a gender balance in ICT professions, apparently to little effect. Women still make up under 20% of ICT professionals in most OECD countries, and there is little sign of any substantial increase in their presence. Perhaps we have failed to properly understand the factors involved in women’s absence, or to design appropriate remedial measures. We may need to reconsider our approach to the issue. In this paper, we advocate a ‘life course’ approach to the understanding of women’s trajectories through ICT studies and careers, situated in the structural and cultural contexts within which these trajectories unfold. This approach has several advantages: it allows us to identify the main factors affecting women’s engagement in ICT at different points in their lives; it highlights the key transition and attrition points in women’s lives; and, it shows how their career patterns are shaped by domestic labour as well as workplace factors. It crucially recognises the role of women’s own choices, as they shape and respond to their situations. Several contextual issues also appear to be crucial in shaping patterns of women’s engagement in ICT. In different countries, there are contrasting education systems, gender regimes and family structures, and employment cultures. All have a decisive influence on women’s careers in the ICT professions in every country. Using this approach, we can identify life events and contextual issues which require targeted action, and thus differentiate practical priorities according to different circumstances.

[1]  Joanna Goode,et al.  Lost in Translation: Gender and High School Computer Science , 2006 .

[2]  Tracy Camp,et al.  The incredible shrinking pipeline , 1997, CACM.

[3]  Gill Kirkup,et al.  Preparing Women for Dead-End Jobs? Vocational Education and Training (VET) for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Jobs , 2011 .

[4]  E. Rathgeber,et al.  Gender and the Information Revolution in Africa , 2000 .

[5]  Milagros Sáinz Ibáñez.  Aspectos psicosociales de las diferencias de género en actitudes hacia las nuevas tecnologías en adolescentes , 2006 .

[6]  Marie Griffiths,et al.  'Disappearing Women': A Study of Women Who Left the UK ICT Sector , 2010 .

[7]  S. Mitter,et al.  Gender and the digital economy : perspectives from the developing world , 2005 .

[8]  Milagros Sáinz.  Factors Which Influence Girls’ Orientations To ICT Subjects In Schools. Evidence From Spain , 2011 .

[9]  V. Degraef.  Gender and Excellence in the Making , 2004 .

[10]  J. Webster,et al.  Taking a Lifecycle Approach: Redefining Women Returners to Science, Engineering and Technology , 2010 .

[11]  G. Elder.  Children of the Great Depression: Social Change in Life Experience , 1999 .

[12]  Judy Wajcman,et al.  Managing Like a Man: Women and Men in Corporate Management , 1998 .

[13]  T. Misa.  Gender Codes: Why Women Are Leaving Computing , 2010 .

[14]  Wendy Faulkner,et al.  Doing gender in engineering workplace cultures. II. Gender in/authenticity and the in/visibility paradox , 2009 .

[15]  B. Pfau-Effinger.  Gender cultures and the gender arrangement—a theoretical framework for cross‐national gender research , 1998 .

[16]  Judith Glover,et al.  Women in Hybrid Roles in IT Employment: A Return to 'Nimble Fingers'? , 2010 .

[17]  J. Wajcman.  Feminism Confronts Technology , 1991 .

[18]  Barbara Taylor,et al.  Sex and Skill: Notes towards a Feminist Economics , 1980 .

[19]  Elisabeth K. Kelan.  Emotions in a Rational Profession: The Gendering of Skills in ICT Work , 2007 .

[20]  Silvia Gherardi,et al.  Gender, symbolism and organizational cultures , 1995 .

[21]  Thomas J. Misa,et al.  Constructing Gender and Technology in Advertising Images , 2010 .

[22]  Indira R. Guzman,et al.  IT occupational culture: the cultural fit and commitment of new information technologists , 2009, Inf. Technol. People.

[23]  Yu Xie,et al.  Women in Science: Career Processes and Outcomes , 2003 .

[24]  Birgit Pfau-Effinger,et al.  Gender, Economy and Culture in the European Union , 2001 .

[25]  Gillian Shapiro.  Informal Processes and Women's Careers in Information Technology Management , 1994, Woman, Work and Computerization.

[26]  The Gender Pay Gap , 1996 .

[27]  Allan Fisher,et al.  Unlocking the Clubhouse : Women in Computing by Allan Fisher , 2015 .

[28]  Denise E. Agosto.  Women and information technology: Research on underrepresentation , 2007 .

[29]  Marisa D'Mello,et al.  Gendered selves and identities of information technology professionals in global software organizations in India , 2006 .

[30]  Raymond L. Price,et al.  The four stages of professional careers— A new look at performance by professionals , 1977 .

[31]  Minna Salminen-Karlsson,et al.  The problem in the eye of the beholder: Working with gender reforms in computer engineering , 2011 .

[32]  G. Esping-Andersen.  The Incomplete Revolution: Adapting to Women's New Roles , 2009 .

[33]  Jacquelynne S. Eccles,et al.  Understanding Women's Educational And Occupational Choices: Applying the Eccles et al. Model of Achievement-Related Choices , 1994 .

[34]  Rachel Palmen,et al.  Girls, Boys and ICT in the UK: An Empirical Review and Competing Policy Agendas , 2011 .

[35]  Carlos Iglesias-Fernández,et al.  ICT Employment, Over-Education and Gender in Spain - Do Information and Communication Technologies Improve the Female Labour Situation? , 2010 .

[36]  Allen C. Bluedorn,et al.  Men and Women of the Corporation , 1978 .

[37]  María Caprile,et al.  Topic report Science as a labour activity , 2010 .

[38]  G. Esping‐Andersen,et al.  The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism , 1990 .

[39]  William Aspray,et al.  The Transition of Women from the Academic World to the IT Workplace: A Review of the Relevant Research , 2008 .

[40]  J. Glover,et al.  PERSPECTIVES Women's Representation in ICT Employment: Approaches to Bringing about Organisational Change , 2011 .

[41]  Marie Griffiths,et al.  Inclusion Through the Ages? Gender, ICT Workplaces, and Life Stage Experiences in England , 2006, Social Inclusion.

[42]  Joy Teague,et al.  Women in computing: what brings them to it, what keeps them in it? , 2002, SGCS.

[43]  B. Pfau-Effinger.  Cultural and Institutional Contexts , 2010 .

[44]  Kathryn M. Bartol,et al.  Gender and Professional Commitment among IT Professionals: The Special Case of Female Newcomers to Organizations , 2006 .

[45]  Takao Maruyama,et al.  Women and Men in Science, Engineering and Technology: The UK Statistics Guide 2010 , 2010 .

[46]  Etta Olgiati.  Promoting gender equality in the workplace , 2002 .

[47]  Paula Leventman.  Multiple Pathways toward Gender Equity in the United States Information Technology Workforce , 2007 .

[48]  G. Valenduc.  Not a job for life? Women's progression, conversion and dropout in ICT professions , 2011 .

[49]  Ruth Woodfield,et al.  Women, Work and Computing20023Women, Work and Computing. Cambridge University Press, 2000. 209 pp., ISBN: ISBN: 0 521 77735 6 (pbk, £12.95); ISBN: 0 521 77189 7 (hbk, £35). , 2002 .

[50]  Julia Evetts.  Gender And Career In Science And Engineering , 1996 .

[51]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  Women and information technology , 1989 .

[52]  Jacquelynne S. Eccles,et al.  Linking gender to educational, occupational, and recreational choices: Applying the Eccles et al. model of achievement-related choices. , 1999 .

[53]  J. Cohoon.  Perspectives on Improving the Gender Composition of Computing , 2011 .

[54]  Jörg Müller.  Gendering the Millennials. Analyzing Staff Responses to New Student Profiles in Spanish ICT Higher Education , 2011 .

[55]  A. O’Rand,et al.  CONCEPTS OF THE LIFE CYCLE: Their History, Meanings, and Uses in the Social Sciences , 1990 .

[56]  Ruth Woodfield,et al.  Woman and information systems development: not just a pretty (inter)face? , 2002, Inf. Technol. People.

[57]  F. Henwood.  Establishing gender perspectives on information technology: problems, issues and opportunities , 1993 .