Gender in the Global
Information Economy: IT
Consumers & Producers
Prof. Eileen M. Trauth, PhD
Faculty of Information Sciences and
Technology (Informatik)
Associate Dean
The Pennsylvania State University
etrauth@ist.psu.edu
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Course Introduction
•
•
•
•
What subject do you study?
What work will you do?
Why do you take this course?
One important question about gender and
technik?
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Course Format
• Lecture
• Reading assignments
• Questions
– Email, after class, Samantha
• Essay (gender & IT in some region / country)
– Encyclopedia of Gender & Information Technology
• Oral presentation about essay
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The Information Economy
Information Society
Information Economy
Primary
Secondary
Information
Information Sector Sector –
Producers
Consumers
HW, SW,
systems/services
Content
IT people
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Course Goals
• Global information economy
–
–
–
–
Telecommunications / Internet
Outsourcing/offshoring
Global work teams
European Union
• Human diversity in the global information
economy
–
–
–
–
–
Culture
Race/ethnicity
Age
Social class
Gender
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Course Goals
• Gender diversity in global information economy
–
–
–
–
Culture
Economy
Infrastructure
Policy
• Critical examination of gender issues
– for consumers of IT
– for IT workforce
• Recommendations to address issues
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Evolution of Information Society
• 1950s: computer
• 1960s: Marshal McLuhan, “medium is the
message, “information”
• 1970s: Daniel Bell, “post-industrial society”,
“information economy”
• 1980s: ICT, “end user computing”
• 1990s: WWW, Internet, National Information
Infrastructure
• 2000s: globalization, e-society, e-inclusion
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Information Society in Austria
Bundespressedienst Vienna, 2005
“… the rapid increase in use of information
and communication technologies (ICT) for
collecting, communicating, disseminating
and exploiting information”
“By 2015 about four fifths of all human work
will consist of handling information…”
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Information Society in Austria:
7 Key Themes
1 – Preventing digital division (e-inclusion)
2 – Infrastructure
3 – Modern, service-oriented public
administration
4 – More competitive SMEs through ICT
5 – ICT literacy
6 – Security of ICT applications
7 – High quality Austrian e-content
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Information Society in Austria:
Gender & e-Inclusion
“eEurope Action Plan 2005 focuses above
all on users, male and female. At all levels
and for all activities full social participation
is paramount…”
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Information Society in Austria:
Gender & e-Inclusion
“Opportunities to participate may vary from
person to person because of
socioeconomic (income, ancestry,
education) and sociocultural (gender)
barriers.”
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Information Society in Austria:
Gender & e-Inclusion
“For various reasons women are under
represented both in research and
development and also in founding new
companies concerned with the application
of the new ICT technologies.”
63% of men and 50% of women over 14
years are online (2005)
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Information Society in Austria:
Gender & e-Inclusion initiatives
• EQUAL – EU initiative to fight discrimination and
inequality in the labor market has specific
programs to support women and ICT
• Austrian regional initiatives
– Women & ICT in Burgenland, ICT awareness
– ABZ Vienna, ICT reentry
– NOWA, Graz women’s network
– IT4HER, Austrian Computer Society, careers
in ICT
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Course Content
Globalization & diversity concepts
Socio-cultural influences on gender & ICT
consumption
Socio-cultural influences on gender & ICT
production
Application of socio-cultural understanding to
gender & production/consumption of ICT in
particular contexts
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Diversity in the IT Field
•The meaning of diversity
•The benefits of diversity
•The reality of diversity
• Diversity themes
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The Meaning of Diversity:
Unlikeness, difference, variety
•Demographic (race, age, gender)
•Task-related knowledge/abilities
•Values, beliefs & attitudes
•Personality, cognitive & behavioral styles
•Status in organization, society
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The Meaning of Diversity:
Demographics
•Primary Categories
•More visible diversity: race, ethnicity, sex
•Less visible diversity: age, disability, sexual
orientation, religion
•Secondary Categories
•education, geographic location, income, marital
status, military experience, parental status, work
experience
•Fixed (sex?) v. fluid dimensions (socio-economic class?)
•Priority of identity characteristics (e.g. race v. gender)
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The Meaning of Diversity:
Issues
•Standing out as ‘different’ (Race/Ethnicity)
•Women in ICT as an ‘alternative’ view (Gender)
•Assumptions about a woman’s qualifications (Gender)
•Work styles, language, communication styles (Cultures)
•Religion’s influence on a culture’s values & norms
-Heterosexism (Gender, sexual orientation)
•What is ‘normal’
•Defensiveness about one’s diversity
•How different are people who are ‘different’ in observable
or knowable ways?
•When & how should it matter?
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Benefits of Diversity:
Economic Development & Innovation
• Knowledge (services) economy
• Technology (fuels knowledge economy)
– Services vs. technology
– continuous innovation vs. commodity
• Talent (human capital development)
- brainpower & creativity to fuel innovation
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Benefits of Diversity:
Innovation
• Tolerance (of human differences)
– Richard Florida (“Creative Economy”)
proposition: for attracting and retaining talent
– Trauth proposition:
• for stimulating creativity/innovation atmosphere
• for accepting new ideas of new people
• for lowering barriers to entry to field
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Benefits of Diversity:
Innovation
• Stimulating innovation
– Creative thinking
– Workers representative of consumer base
• Competitive advantage
– Broader lens => wider set of
opinions/experiences => more creativity &
better decision making
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Reality of Diversity:
Globalization of IT
• Outsourcing/offshoring
• Global business
– Doing business in different countries
– How similar tasks differ from nation to nation
– Efficiently adapting to cultural differences so
as not to disrupt job
– Better global understanding
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Reality of Diversity:
Globalization of IT
• Cross-cultural work
– Language differences
– Cultural differences in the global workplace: work ethics, work
styles, customs
– Work relationships
– Working with people who are ‘different’ without offending them
– “people need to learn how to act around each other”
– Diversity and communication in small groups
– Learning about other cultures
– How to ‘fit in’ with different cultures
– Communication with people who are different – or are they?
– “Proper way to work with others from different cultures”
– Diverse project teams
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Discrimination v. inclusion
Discrimination
Target v. agent
Intentional v. unintentional
Inclusion
Welcoming climate
Treatment of ‘other’
Active v. passive marginalization
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Tolerating, managing
& celebrating diversity
• Tolerating: ‘accepting’ people who are
different from you; non discrimination
• Managing: ensuring inclusion in the
presence of diversity
• Celebrating: seeing value and positive
effects from human differences
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Managing Diversity
• Government policy interventions
– Affirmative action, equal opportunity & antidiscrimination
– “fair” vs. “unfair” discrimination
• Corporate policy interventions
– Mentoring
– Diversity training
– Diversity committees
• Monitoring progress
– Numbers
– Diversity climate studies
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Managing Diversity
• Recourse
– For targets of discrimination
• Accountability
– For ‘anti diversity’ behaviors
– For achieving diversity goals
• Global business
– Not a choice
– Degrees of experiential understanding
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Gender as Diversity
A type of diversity => apply diversity concepts
Where gender is similar to and different from other
types of diversity
All societies experience gender, do not necessarily
experience other types of diversity (e.g. race in
Ireland before 21st century.
The most “fundamental” area of oppression?
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Gender, ICT Consumption
& the IT Profession
• Is ICT use gendered?
– If no, what is the evidence of this?
– If yes, what types of use are considered
‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’?”
• Is the IT profession gendered?
– If no, what is the evidence of this?
– If yes, what is the evidence of this?
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Socio-cultural Factors
Interacting with Gender in the Global
Information Economy
Society
Culture
Economy
Society
Gendered
Participation
in the
Information
Economy
Infrastructure
Public Policy
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Influence
Impact
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Culture
Economy
Infrastructure
Public Policy
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Examples of Socio-cultural
Influences on Gender
• Culture
– Equality of women in the society
– Attitude toward women working, working in
technical fields
• Economy
– Size, importance of IT sector
– Economic health of region
– Unemployment rate & availability of jobs
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Examples of Socio-cultural
Influences on Gender
• Infrastructure
– Access to ICT technology
– Basic infrastructure (e.g. transportation,
electricity)
• Public policy
– Laws protecting against gender discrimination
– Laws restricting women
– Maternity, child care policies
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Gender, Culture and
ICT Consumption & Production
• ICT consumption
– National culture (Kenya)
– Computing culture
• ICT production
– National and professional culture (US)
– National and professional culture (Canada)
– National and organizational culture
(US, Israel)
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Gender, ICT Consumption &
National Culture: Kenya
• Rationale:
– Information-intensive social services (health,
education)
– digital divide & ‘gender justice’ in developing
countries
“Neglecting to give women access…deprives
them and their families of income, reduces the
skill level of a nation’s human resource, limits
national productivity … in the global market.”
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Gender, ICT Consumption &
National Culture: Kenya
• Women’s motivation:
– to achieve labor force entrée
– to compete in historically male domain
– to become empowered
• Economic
• Gender equity
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Gender, ICT Consumption &
National Culture: Kenya
• Perceived barriers:
– Focus of ICT educational programs
– Organization’s inability to recognize their
competencies (mix of business and technical)
– Labor market
• Gender discrimination in hiring practices
• National ICT policies not supporting IT sector
growth -> limiting placement levels
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Gender, ICT Consumption &
National Culture: Kenya
• Conclusion:
– Gender inequality in information age tends to slow
economic growth
“No country can raise the standard of living and improve
the well-being of its people without the participation of
half its population…Women are important actors.. To
hold them back is to hold back the potential for
economic growth.”
– Impact of women’s participation in formal workforce
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Gender, ICT Consumption &
National Culture: Kenya
• Conclusion:
– Lifting families out of poverty through labor force
participation, through investing earnings in the
children
– ‘development’ means more than economic
development
• Eradicating sources of oppression: gender and racial
discrimination, social & economic deprivation, intolerance &
repressive states
– Education as an enabler & post-colonial effects
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Gender, ICT Consumption &
Computing Culture
• Motivation:
– Sex difference in use of computing among US
children (early 1980s)
– Long term effects of gender digital divide
– “Gender” arguments not supportable
• Computing as ‘machinery’
– Procedural knowledge
• Early computer programmers were women
– Other forces at work?
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Gender, ICT Consumption &
Computing Culture
• Gendered culture:
– Gendered types of games
• Sports
• Warfare
• Aggressive gambling
– Gendered depiction of software
• Male images in marketing
– Gender & educational computer use
• Aggressive boys claiming the computing space
• Boys’ exclusion of girls in clubs
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Gender, ICT Consumption &
Computing Culture
• Gendered culture:
– Gendered spaces of use
• Arcades as “pool halls”
• What would non gendered (or equally
gendered) uses, spaces & marketing look
like?
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Gender, Culture and
ICT & Production
• National and professional culture (US)
• National and professional culture (Canada)
• National and organizational culture
(US, Israel)
• Cross-cultural study
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ICT Production and National
& Professional Cultures (US)
“Are Women an Underserved Community in the
Information Technology Profession?”
International Conference on Information Systems, 2006
Eileen M. Trauth, Ph.D.
etrauth@ist.psu.edu
Jeria L. Quesenberry, Ph.D.
jquesenberry@cmu.edu
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Women: A (Coherent) Underserved
Community?
• Women not minorities in the population
In 2004, women accounted for:
– 59.2% of the population over 16
– 56% of the labor force (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2005)
• Female participation increasing in some
historically male-dominated professions
– Legal: 9.5% female (1971) to 44.4% (1996)
(Kam, 2005)
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Women are Underrepresented in the IT
Profession
• The representation of
women in the IT
profession is declining
100%
75%
59%
65%
(ITAA, 2005, 2003)
• Women are less likely
to return to the IT
profession after the
dot.com bust (ITAA, 2005)
50%
25%
41%
35%
32%
0%
Year
1996
2002
Source (ITAA, 2005; 2003)
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Men
Women
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Theorizing Gender: Individual
Differences Theory of Gender and IT
Do women vary with respect to the
(individual & societal) factors that help
to explain the under representation of
women in the IT profession and, if so,
how?
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Research Program
• Qualitative investigation of life histories of
women IT professionals (200 interviews)
– Ireland (1989-90; 2003-2006)
• Fulbright (Dublin City University)
• Science Foundation Ireland (Univ. Limerick)
– Australia & New Zealand (2000)
• Australian Research Council (Griffith U.)
– US (2002-2006)
• NSF: A Field Study of Individual Differences in the
Social Shaping of Gender and IT
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Data Collection and Analysis
• Face-to-face / open ended interviews
• Themes:
– Participant demographics / background
– Significant socio-cultural, institutional and
interpersonal influences
– Broader comments on gender and IT
Open coding transcripts / N6
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This Paper
• Interviews with 92 US women
– Massachusetts (32)
– North Carolina (30)
– Central Pennsylvania (30)
• Participants represent range of ages,
ethnic / racial identities, marital statuses,
educational backgrounds and job titles
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This Paper
1. Some prevalent societal gender discourses
encountered by American women throughout
their personal and professional development
2. Themes showing the variety of women’s
responses to these discourses
3. Different identity characteristics (individual
identity, individual influences) of women that
help to explain the variation in experience of
and response to the discourses
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Gender Discourses Explored
1. Domestic responsibilities
2. Female Career opportunities
3. IT as a masculine profession
For each discourse a variety of responses
were identified, as were societal influences on
the women that shed light on this variation
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Gender Discourse:
Domestic Responsibilities
Women should sacrifice their careers for
domestic responsibilities – discourse varies
by identity characteristics: sexual
orientation, marital status, parenthood
status
Typically, [the societal message is that the family obligations take
precedence over the professional obligation. … I think typically [the
societal view] is that when the woman has a child she should stay home
and take care of them. The male would be the financial supporter.
[Francie]
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Domestic Responsibilities:
Response Themes
1. Independence and equality
By the time I reached high school, I was very independent. I really did not see
a need for a man to take care of me. I thought my parents were very silly in
trying to push me into marriage. [Samantha]
2. Childrearing
• Motivation
• Support structures
• Domestic arrangements
[My husband, who works in IT] understands the pressures and the demands.
We work more closely dealing with situations [about childcare]. Dealing
with a child being sick, he takes half a day off, I take half a day off. We
work around our schedules. We understand the demands of work. [Jada]
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Gender Discourse:
Female Career Opportunity
Gendered constraints on careers –
discourse varies by identity characteristics:
age, race and socio-economic status
I had a 4.0 [grade point average] coming out of high school, but I was not
directed toward one of the mainstream universities. I think there are a lot of
factors affecting that, race being one of them. [Joanne]
My parents both always told me “you can be anything you want as long as
you work hard and you are smart.” [Teri]
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Female Career Opportunity:
Response Theme
Influences in overcoming gendered IT profession
career choice
•
•
•
•
•
Parents
Male role models
Value of education
Technology exposure
Socio-economic class
I think [my mother’s] attitude was that an education is the way out for you.
You need to be able to support yourself. In order to do that, you need a
good solid education. I think she wanted me not to be in the position
that she was in. I think I knew from a very young age that one way or
another I was going to college. It was not negotiable it was just known.
[Wendy]
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Gender Discourse:
IT as a Masculine Profession
Suitability of women for the IT profession discourse varies by identity characteristics:
race, local culture
It is hard [to fix the perception of IT work because] girls are hearing all kinds of
crappy things all the time. [We need someone] who can make us see that IT is
not this horrifying ocean of geekdom. It is not that bad. There are lots of really
cool women in IT. It is not all freaks. That is the biggest concern of high school
girls. Put yourself [in their shoes], what were you like in high school when you
were sixteen? … It is not cute to be associated with geeks. [In my high school]
the only people who were into computers were those creepy guys. There
were like two or three creepy, unwashed, acne-filled [guys]. Nobody wanted to
have anything to do with them. [Debbie].
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IT as a Masculine Profession:
Response Themes
1. IT profession fit
• “Tomboy” versus “girlie girl”
My brother was two years older [and] we were very close and hung out
a lot. … We were pals. He would have a lot of his friends over to the
house, and I became pals with them. … The brother’s influence
probably is one thing that made me very comfortable with having
guys as friends. [Yvonne]
• Competitiveness
I guess because it seemed worth doing. If everything else was easy
then this was something that I had to learn, I had to conquer.
[Wendy]
• Minority “two-fold”
– Characterization by a women who is also a member
of a historically underrepresented group (e.g. race)
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IT as a Masculine Profession:
Response Themes
Female assertiveness
• Acceptability?
I was brought up to be very quiet. My dad used to be proud of my sister and
me and he would say “I could bring you two little girls anywhere. You are
such good girls. You sit there and don’t talk.” If anything that has been
the biggest obstacle that I have had in my life and career is to speak up
and not be overshadowed by men who want to be larger than life. They talk
about these things they have done when I have done things that are much
more credible. Tooting my own horn has always been a problem. [Miranda]
• Role of race and sexual orientation
If you look at society, the two out of the White male and the Black male, the
White female and the Black female, I think the two [groups of people] that
society reacts the most to are White males and Black females. … I think
that is probably because [in] today’s society the Black female has been the
core of the Black family. [Megan]
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Discussion
• Emerging critical methodology
• Influential mitigating role of significant
others
• Gendered messages were typically
not empowering
Because I work with girls in high school now I understand the
messages that a lot of them get. ... I know now from work that most
of [the societal messages] are not positive. [Yvonne]
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Conclusion:
Women Are an Underserved Community
Women, as a group, encounter gender discourses
that help to explain the underrepresentation of
women in the IT profession
Variation exists within this ‘underserved
community’
– Both group and individual effects are in evidence
– Discourses are not unilateral
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Conclusion: Future Research
• Socio-cultural barriers and facilitators to
female participation in the IT profession
• Interrelationship between individual
agency and societal influences
• More studies that examine the multiple
identities of women
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ICT Production and National
& Professional Cultures
“Constructing the IT Skills Shortage in Canada”
• Exploring systemic barriers to women in IT
profession
– ways in which institutional practices reinforce a definition
of “IT professional” that tends to exclude women
• Critical examination of discourses about:
– definition of ‘IT professional’
– Skills needed to be an ‘IT professional’
– Qualifications required for entry into ‘IT profession’
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Constructing the IT Skills Shortage in
Canada
• Institutional cultural influence
– The way that the leaders of the IT profession
have defined “IT profession” in discussions
about the “IT skills shortage”
– Privileging aspects of the IT field which tend
to be male dominated and excluding aspects
that have a higher representation of women
– Reinforcing IT profession as male domain
• With implications for demotivating women’s
participation
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Constructing the IT Skills Shortage in
Canada
• Institutions & professions as “carriers
of culture and social structure”
– Certain practices (& knowledge areas)
become taken for granted & privileged
regardless of actual reality
• the kinds of skills and knowledge that IT
professionals need
• Examples?
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Constructing the IT Skills Shortage in
Canada
– Shaping the perception of the IT field
• narrowing definition of IT field to the ‘technical bits’
and not the context surrounding it
• Examples of ‘context surrounding IT field’?
• excluding women who tend to be more in this
space
• traits associated with ‘feminine’ tend to be
undervalued
• Typically ‘feminine traits’ needed in IT field?
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Constructing the IT Skills Shortage in
Canada
• Women’s under representation in IT field
varies by sub-field
– Not meant to be an essentialist assumption
– Women under represented in software engineering
– Women well represented in application &
management
•
•
•
•
•
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Technical writers: 50%
Systems quality assurance analysts: 40%
Database administrators: 40%
Data administration analysts: 40%
Systems testing technicians: 40%
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Constructing the IT Skills Shortage in
Canada
• A generation of male IT managers inclined
to hire in their own image
– (Un)consciously applying criteria of ‘qualified’
as those who possess the same
characteristics as them
• Male
• Computer scientist or engineer
– Only qualifications available in 1970s and most of 1980s
• Other characteristics???
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Constructing the IT Skills Shortage in
Canada
“Systemic discrimination ‘is the existence of
requirements, which are not essential to
performance and have the unintended
consequence of excluding certain
groups’… height requirements for police
officers.”
(Ontario, Canada, Human Rights Commission)
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Constructing the IT Skills Shortage in
Canada
• Assumption that computer science,
engineering or math are the only routes
into the IT profession
– Other appropriate routes?
– Reinforcing male domain which subsequently
reinforces gender barriers to female
participation.
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ICT Production and
National & Organizational Cultures
“A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity in
Computing”
• Gender differences regarding ICT are due
to cultural differences not innate gender
differences
– Search for features of a society that inhibit
participation by women in IT
• Examples?
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing
– Do not assume that women are innately
uninterested in or unqualified for IT
– There is not a gender-divide regarding how
men and women approach the IT profession
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing
• “We refute the popular notion that focusing
on gender differences will enhance greater
participation in computing.”
– ‘nurture’ rather than ‘nature’
– Rejecting model of oppositional thinking that
divides men & women
– Recognize the common ground men &
women share
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing
• Case studies of cultural and environmental
conditions rather than gender differences to
explain how women relate to IT
– Where cultural conditions allow for gender diversity
– Move away from gender differences to cultural issues
• Also allows for class and race to be considered
– Attributing differences to gender when they are really
due to cultural & environmental factors
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing
• Culture
– Complex & broad set of relationships, values,
attitudes & behavior that bind together a specific
community
• Consciously & unconsciously
• Dominant culture vs. micro-cultures & counter-cultures
• Examples??
– “Thinking culturally”: embracing gender similarities &
intragender differences
• Examples??
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing
• Gender (vs. sex)
– The roles, behaviors, attitudes attributed to
people by virtue of their biological sex
– Men and women born into certain roles as
they are born into specific cultures and
moments in history
• Examples of roles deriving from certain moments
in history?
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing : Carnegie Mellon University
• Mid 1990s: less than 10% women in
computer science
• Changes in local environment
– New admissions criteria
• Deemphasizing prior programming experience
– Women@CS: mentoring & networking
• Retention goals
• 2004: 33% women in computer science
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing: Israel
• Participation of females in high school
(gymnasium) computer science classes
– Differences between Arab and Jewish
students based upon cultural factors
• Survey of 146 students
– “Who encouraged you to choose computer
science studies?”
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing: Israel
• Arab female students received more
encouragement to choose CS than did Jewish
students
–
–
–
–
–
–
Mothers: 56% - 40%
Fathers: 44% - 40%
Siblings: 44% - 16%
Friends: 44% - 20%
Acquaintances studying CS: 50% - 20%
Teachers: 56% - 8%
• For higher social status
• Greater influence of parents on career decisions
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A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity
in Computing
• Conclusion
– Outreach: exposure and awareness about IT
– Education: ways of teaching
– Interventions
• Create learning environment where both men &
women can flourish
– ‘Critical mass’ creates sustainable energy
• How & why???
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Cross-cultural Analysis
of Women and IT Careers
“A Multicultural Analysis of Factors Influencing
Career Choice for Women in the Information
Technology Workforce” (Trauth, Quesenberry & Huang, 2008)
• What are the ways in which perceptions of a
woman’s role that are embedded in the culture
of a given society influence IT career choice?
• How do other societal factors moderate these
influences?
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A multicultural analysis of women & IT
• Literature review
– Cultural influences within a country
• gender identity & stereotypes shaped by social &
political ideology (e.g. Turkey)
– Multicultural influences within a country
• Diversity of cultural backgrounds within a single
country (e.g. Asian vs. Caucasian females in Australia)
– Cultural influences across countries
• Variation in influences by country (e.g. Romania vs.
Scotland; Japan vs. Romania)
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A multicultural analysis of women & IT
• Literature review summary
– Cultural factors are highly relevant in
explaining women’s participation in the IT field
– There is wide variability across cultures
– There is a need for further research into how
cultural factors influence the image of gender,
of technology and of gender relations with
respect to IT
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A multicultural analysis of women & IT
• Methodology
– Analysis of 200 transcripts of life history
interviews with women from US (123), Ireland
(46), Australia and New Zealand (31)
– Data items examined:
• Demographic background (country of origin,
country of residence, race,
• Personal background (education, IT work
experience)
• Experiences as a woman working in IT field
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Participants
• Diverse group of women
– Variety of demographics and backgrounds
– Multiple geographic locations
Year(s)
Conducted
# Interviews
Conducted
Australia/New Zealand
2000
31
Ireland
1990
25
Ireland
2003
21
United States
2002-2006
123
TOTAL
1990-2006
200
Field Site Location
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A multicultural analysis of women in IT
• Theoretical framework:
– Individual differences theory of gender & IT
• Individual identity
• Individual influences
• Environmental influences
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Individual Differences Conceptual
Framework
Individual Identity
Individual Influences
Environmental Influences
Spring 2008
Demographic Data
Age, Gender
Ethnicity, Race, Nationality
Religion
Sexual Orientation
Lifestyle Data
Children, Spouse/Partner
Family Background, Family Work Background
Workplace Data
Career characteristics
Industry Type
Job Title, Technical Level, Type of IT Work
Personal Characteristics
Education
Interests & Abilities
Personality Traits
IT Identity, Gender Identity
Personal Influences
Exposure to Computing
Educational Experiences
Life Experiences
Role Models & Mentors
Cultural Attitudes & Values
Attitude Toward Women, Women Working, Women Working in IT
Academic Attitudes Toward Women (In General, In IT)
Workplace Attitudes Toward Women (In General, In IT)
Geographic Data
Location, Population, History
Economic Data
Employment Overall
Information Economy Employment
Policy DataTrauth
- Univ. Klagenfurt
Relevant Laws and Policies
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Findings
• Cross-cultural perspectives are manifested
• Four themes identified
– Motherhood and careers
– Family dynamics
– Career choice
– Gender aptitude stereotypes
• Builds on prior theoretical foundation
• Represents a range of cross-cultural
messages
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Motherhood and Careers
• Messages about motherhood and careers
have evolved over time in Ireland
• Communist and socialist ideologies are
more open to women working
“I feel coming from a communist country, I was raised in a little bit
different way than girls are raised [in capitalist western cultures].
There was more expectation on us to get to any field we wanted
and gender was not really an issue. And because of economical
reasons, our mothers had to work. As such, they were also our
bread winners as much as our fathers. I guess, there was a bigger
awareness or let’s say, acceptance of women [working]” [Charlene]
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Family Dynamics
• Family-centered culture
– Pleasing parents and in-laws in terms of
career choice and lifestyle
– Caring for parents and in-laws
– Grandparents support in child-care roles
“I think [a] difference is that probably [American women] do
not have to take care of their parents. That is the big
difference I can see.” [Carol]
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Career Choice
• Variety of decision factors
– What you want to be?
– What you should be?
– What you can be?
• Personal will versus practical
consideration
• IT as “clean work”
“I was really intelligent. I was a topper. So that is why [people
said I would become a doctor] … I had good marks, [but not
enough to go into medicine] … I didn’t want to give up. I wanted
to be a professional.” [Mitual]
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Gender Aptitude Stereotypes
• Varying stereotypes about gender and IT
• Gender is not the primary target
stereotype compared to other social
dimensions
• Meaning of “geek”
“I think more women in China study engineering than [in
Australia]. In China, our country says a woman and a man are
equal. There is no [stereotype that IT] is men's work” [Cynthia]
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Discussion
• Our findings show that cross-cultural
factors have vivid influences on women’s
choice of IT careers
• While themes related to parenting, family
dynamics, stereotypes, and economics
might be evident in studies of women in
each societal context, the ways in which
these themes are experienced by the
women vary across cultures
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Perceptions of woman’s
role embedded in the
Society
• maternity
•childcare
•parental care
Variation in female IT
Career choice
by
Socio-cultural
Moderators
•culture within
country
•across cultures
•gendered career norms
•social class
•economic opportunity
•gender stereotypes
about aptitude
A model of cultural factors influencing career choices for
women in the IT workforce
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Implications
• The empirical findings indicate that greater
nuance is needed in the examination of gender
and IT in the globalization context
• The Individual Differences Theory of Gender and
IT suggests that not all women experience
similar issues in the same ways, hence there is
a need to focus on women as individuals
• Future research on gender and IT should
consider gender in conjunction with other factors
and embrace more theoretical varieties
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