Spring 2008Trauth - Univ. Klagenfurt1 Gender in the Global Information Economy: IT Consumers &...

Spring 2008 Trauth - Univ. Klagenfurt 1

Gender in the Global Gender in the Global Information Economy: IT Information Economy: IT Consumers & ProducersConsumers & Producers

Prof. Eileen M. Trauth, PhDFaculty of Information Sciences and

Technology (Informatik)Associate Dean

The Pennsylvania State [email protected]


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?


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


The Information Economy

Information Society

Information Economy

SecondaryInformationSector –Consumers

Primary InformationSector - ProducersHW, SW, systems/servicesContentIT people


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


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


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


Information Society in AustriaBundespressedienst 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…”


Information Society in Austria:7 Key Themes

1 – Preventing digital division (e-inclusion)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


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…”


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.”


Information Society in Austria:Gender & e-Inclusion

“For various reasonsFor 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)


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


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


Diversity in the IT Field

•The meaning of diversity

•The benefits of diversity

•The reality of diversity

• Diversity themes


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


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)


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?


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


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


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


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


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


Discrimination v. inclusion

DiscriminationTarget v. agent Intentional v. unintentional

InclusionWelcoming climateTreatment of ‘other’Active v. passive marginalization


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


Managing Diversity• Government policy interventions

– Affirmative action, equal opportunity & anti-discrimination

– “fair” vs. “unfair” discrimination

• Corporate policy interventions – Mentoring– Diversity training– Diversity committees

• Monitoring progress– Numbers– Diversity climate studies


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


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?


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?


Socio-cultural Factors Interacting with Gender in the Global

Information Economy

GenderedParticipation

in the InformationEconomy

Infrastructure

Society Society

Public Policy

Economy

Culture Culture

Economy

Infrastructure

Public PolicyInfluence Impact


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


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


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)


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.”



• Women’s motivation:– to achieve labor force entrée– to compete in historically male domain– to become empowered

• Economic• Gender equity



• 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



• 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



• 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


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?



• 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



• Gendered culture:– Gendered spaces of use

• Arcades as “pool halls”

• What would non gendered (or equally gendered) uses, spaces & marketing look like?


Gender, Culture and ICT & Production

• National and professional culture (US)

• National and professional culture (Canada)

• National and organizational culture (US, Israel)

• Cross-cultural study


ICT Production and National & Professional Cultures (US)

“Are Women an Underserved Community in the Information Technology Profession?”

Eileen M. Trauth, [email protected]

Jeria L. Quesenberry, [email protected]

International Conference on Information Systems, 2006

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Women: A (Coherent) Underserved Community?

• Women not minorities in the populationIn 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)


Women are Underrepresented in the IT Profession

• The representation of women in the IT profession is declining (ITAA, 2005, 2003)

• Women are less likely to return to the IT profession after the dot.com bust (ITAA, 2005)

1996 2002 2004

100%

41%35%

32%

59%65%

68%

MenWomen

Year

25%

75%

0%

50%

Source (ITAA, 2005; 2003)


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?


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


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


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


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


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


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]


Domestic Responsibilities: Response Themes1. 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]


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]


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]


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].


IT as a Masculine Profession: Response Themes1. 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]

• CompetitivenessI 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)


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 orientationIf 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]


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]


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


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


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’


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



• 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?



– 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?



• 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• Technical writers: 50%• Systems quality assurance analysts: 40%• Database administrators: 40%• Data administration analysts: 40%• Systems testing technicians: 40%



• 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???



“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)



• 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.


ICT Production andNational & 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?


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



• “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


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



• 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??



• 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?


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


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?”


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



• 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???


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?


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)


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


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


Participants

Field Site LocationYear(s)

Conducted# Interviews Conducted

Australia/New Zealand 2000 31

Ireland 1990 25

Ireland 2003 21

United States 2002-2006 123

TOTAL 1990-2006 200

• Diverse group of women– Variety of demographics and backgrounds– Multiple geographic locations


A multicultural analysis of women in IT

• Theoretical framework:– Individual differences theory of gender & IT

• Individual identity• Individual influences• Environmental influences


Individual Differences Conceptual FrameworkIndividual Identity Demographic Data Age, Gender

Ethnicity, Race, NationalityReligionSexual Orientation

Lifestyle Data Children, Spouse/PartnerFamily Background, Family Work Background

Workplace Data Career characteristicsIndustry TypeJob Title, Technical Level, Type of IT Work

Individual Influences Personal Characteristics EducationInterests & AbilitiesPersonality TraitsIT Identity, Gender Identity

Personal Influences Exposure to ComputingEducational ExperiencesLife ExperiencesRole Models & Mentors

Environmental Influences 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 OverallInformation Economy Employment

Policy Data Relevant Laws and Policies

(Trauth, et al., 2004)


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


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]


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]


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]


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]


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


Perceptions of woman’srole embedded in the Society

• maternity•childcare•parental care Socio-cultural

Moderators

•gendered career norms•social class•economic opportunity•gender stereotypes about aptitude

Variation in female ITCareer choice

by

•culture within country•across cultures

A model of cultural factors influencing career choices for women in the IT workforce


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

Spring 2008Trauth - Univ. Klagenfurt1 Gender in the Global Information Economy: IT Consumers &...

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