Women Growing in IT: The Personal and the Environmental

1
Women Growing in IT The Personal and the
Environmental

• Eileen M. Trauth, Ph.D.
• Professor of Information Sciences Technology
• Affiliate Professor of Womens Studies,
  International Affairs,
• Labor Studies, Management Organization
• The Pennsylvania State University
• etrauth_at_ist.psu.edu
• http//etrauth.ist.psu.edu
• May 5, 2009

2
Agenda

• Understanding the under representation of women
  in IT careers
• Theorizing gender and IT
• Nature - nurture
• The Individual Differences Theory of Gender IT
• Field study of American women in IT
• Implications for career development

3
The under representation of women in IT careers
100
59
65
75
75
68
50
41
35
32
25
25
0
1996 2002 2004 2008
Year
(Source ITAA, 2005, 2003 Panko, 2008)
Men Women
4
Understanding the Under Representation of Women
in IT Careers

• Developing interventions to recruit and retain
  women IT professionals
• Apply effective individual, institutional
  societal interventions
• Understanding the issues
• Theoretical lens to analyze the observations

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Theorizing Gender IT The Nature
Nurture Debate (Trauth, 2002)
Essentialist theory inherent (bio/psychological)
differences between men and women explain the
participation level of women in IT Rebuttal
successful female IT professionals in a range of
countries
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Theorizing Gender IT The Nature
Nurture Debate (Trauth, 2002)
Social construction theory the social shaping
of technology as a male domain explains the
participation level of women in IT Rebuttal
varying definitions of masculine and feminine
domains by individuals and socio-cultural
contexts - when/where is programming womens
work?
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Theorizing Gender IT The Individual
Differences Theory of Gender IT

• Middle ground between extreme nature and extreme
  nurture theories
• Focuses on differences within rather than between
  genders
• Examines issues at both individual and group level

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Individual Differences Theory of Gender
IT(Trauth Quesenberry, 2006)

• Participation of women in IT explained by
• Varied individual exposure to and experience of
  (institutional, societal) gendering
• varied gender shaping of both individuals and IT
• selective reinforcement of individual IT interest
  and capability
• Varied individual responses to (institutional,
  societal) gendering
• influence of significant experiences
  significant others in an individuals
  life/career

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Individual Differences Theory of Gender
IT(Trauth, 2006 Trauth et al., 2004)

• Individual Identity
• Demographic (gender identity, ethnicity, age)
• Lifestyle (parental status)
• Work (IT industry)
• Individual Influences
• Personal characteristics (competitive, logical,
  self confidence)
• Personal influences (mentors, role models)
• Environmental Influences
• Geography (location, population, history)
• Culture (position of women)
• Economy (size of IT economy)
• Policy (gender equality, family)
• Infrastructure (child care, transportation)

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Field Study of American Women
in IT Purpose (NSF 0204246)

• Examine life histories to identify individual
  exposure to, experience of and response to
  institutional and socio-cultural factors that
  inhibit or encourage female participation in the
  IT profession
• Factors are both subtle and overt (Trauth
  Howcroft, 2006)

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Field Study of American Women in IT Methodology

• 123 open ended, face-to-face interviews
• (2002-2006)
• Greater Boston, Massachusetts (32)
• Charlotte / Research Triangle, North Carolina
  (30)
• Central Pennsylvania (30)
• Academics (31)
• Prior gender research in Ireland, Australia, New
  Zealand

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Field Study of American Women in IT Findings

• Environmental Context
• Culture economy (Trauth et al., 2008b)
• Cross-cultural influences (Trauth et al., 2008)
• Gender, Race Class (Kvasny et al., forthcoming)
• Career Decisions (Quesenberry Trauth, 2007,
  2008)

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Field Study of American Women in IT Findings

• Work-Life Balance
• Motherhood (Quesenberry et al., 2006)
• Ubiquitous Computing (Quesenberry et al., 2005)
• Social Networks (Morgan et al., 2004)
• Organizational Factors (Trauth et al., in
  progress)

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Implications for Career Development IT
Professionals

• Awareness of gender bias
• Coping strategies
• Networking
• Mentoring
• Domestic gender roles

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Implications for Career Development IT
Managers

• Awareness of gender bias
• Climate, networking, mentoring
• Policy
• One size does not fit all (intersectionality)
• Avoid simplistic characterizations
• Accountability
• Work-life, family leave policies

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References Information Technology Association of
America. (2005). Adding Values Growing Careers,
ITAAs 2004 Workdorce Study, Arlington, VA,
ITAA. Information Technology Association of
America. (2003). ITAA Blue Ribbon Panel on IT
Diversity, Arlington, VA, ITAA. Kvasny, L.,
Trauth, E.M. and Morgan, A. (Forthcoming). Power
Relations in IT Education and Work The
Intersectionality of Gender, Race and Class,
Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics
in Society. Morgan, A.J., Quesenberry, J.L. and
Trauth, E.M. (2004). Exploring the Importance of
Social Networks in the IT Workforce Experiences
with the Boys Club. Proceedings of the
Americas Conference on Information Systems.
Panko, R. (2008). IT Employment Prospects
Beyond the Dotcom Bubble, European Journal of
Information Systems 17 182-197. Quesenberry,
J.L. and Trauth, E.M. (2008). Revisiting Career
Path Assumptions The Case of Women in the IT
Workforce, Proceedings of the International
Conference on Information Systems.
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Quesenberry, J.L., and Trauth, E.M. (2005). The
Role of Ubiquitous Computing in Maintaining
Work-Life Balance Perspectives from Women in the
IT Workforce, in Designing Ubiquitous
Information Environments Socio-Technical Issues
and Challenges. C. Sorensen, Y. Youngjin, K.
Lyytinen, and J.I. DeGross (Eds.), New York,
Springer 43-55. Quesenberry, J.L. and Trauth,
E.M. (2007). What Do Women Want? An
Investigation of Career Anchors among Women in
the IT Workforce, Proceedings of the ACM SIGMIS
Computer Personnel Research Conference, 122-127.
Quesenberry, J., Trauth, E..M. and Morgan, A.
(2006). Understanding the Mommy Tracks A
Framework for Analyzing Work-Family Issues in the
IT Workforce, Information Resources Management
Journal 19(2) 37-53. Trauth, E.M. (2002). Odd
Girl Out An Individual Differences Perspective
on Women in the IT Profession, Information
Technology and People (5) 2 98-118. Trauth, E.M.
(2006). Theorizing Gender and Information
Technology Research, in Encyclopedia of Gender
and Information Technology. E.M. Trauth (Ed.),
Hershey, PA Idea Group Publishing 1154-1159.
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Trauth, E.M. and Howcroft, D. (2006). Critical
Empirical Research in IS An Example of Gender
and IT, Information Technology and People 19(3)
272-292. Trauth, E.M. and Quesenberry, J. (2006).
Are Women an Underserved Community in the
Information Technology Profession? Proceedings of
the International Conference on Information
Systems. Trauth, E.M., Quesenberry, J. and Huang,
H. (2008a). A Multicultural Analysis of Factors
Influencing Career Choice for Women in the
Information Technology Workforce, Journal of
Global Information Management 16(4)
1-23. Trauth, E.M., Quesenberry, J.L. and Morgan,
A.J. (2004). Understanding the Under
Representation of Women in IT Toward a Theory of
Individual Differences. Proceedings of the ACM
SIGMIS Computer Personnel Research Conference,
114-119. Trauth, E.M., Quesenberry, J. and Yeo,
B. (2008b). Environmental Influences on Gender
in the IT Workforce, The Data Base for Advances
in Information Systems 39(1) 8-32.