Implications of Gender Consciousness for Students in Information Technology

This study investigates the effects of gender consciousness among students enrolled in IT programs at five U.S. universities. Based on 136 in-depth face-to-face interviews, we assess the overall level of gender consciousness among the IT students, proposing a new distinction between awareness of gender inequity and concern about such inequity, and identify characteristics of students with varying levels of gender consciousness. We then consider the relationship between level of gender consciousness and two self-efficacy measures—self-confidence and ambition—as regards the students' education and future IT careers. Our findings suggest that gender consciousness is related to lived experience, and has positive implications, via the mediating variable of self-efficacy, for women IT students' educational and professional success.

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