Introduction
Women are significantly underrepresented in the global workforce for technology. According to Annabi and Lebovitz, there is a serious shortage of skilled IT personnel in many firms which poses a social issue and a workforce problem. In the future, women will make up a larger share of the IT labor force, but historically, they have been ghettoized in a small number of industrial sectors and concentrated at the bottom rung in those sectors (Annabi and Lebovitz). Unlike in IT, there is a rise in women’s participation in other male-dominated careers compared to the Information Technology field (Annabi and Lebovitz). Furthermore, Women’s inclusion and retention in IT is a continuous challenge; thus, researchers have examined women and their IT careers for years.
Women in IT frequently face cultural, organizational, and personal barriers that prohibit them from entering and progressing in the IT sector. Overall, men are twice as likely as women to get hired for IT careers (Annabi and Lebovitz). Additionally, women may confront hurdles and unconscious bias when gaining access to IT employment. These include societal expectations, work-family conflict, and a male-dominated IT occupational culture with a shortage of female role models, disrespect by male colleagues, gender biasness, and informal networks inside enterprises. This study seeks to examine the individual perception of women working in IT to identify the barriers women now encounter, and shed light on the diminishing and overall disproportionate number of women in IT. To discover significant ideas around the difficulties women in IT confront with advancement and turnover, this paper consulted different literature. The study mainly focused on how disrespect, gender biasness, and the lack of role models affect women in Information Technology.
Disrespect
Lack of respect is one of the causes of why women are underrepresented in the IT workforce. Behaving in an insulting manner, and acting in an obnoxious and unpleasant manner against women is considered as disrespect (Marcus). Women in the IT profession often appear to be demeaned by their male counterparts and the supervisors at large; they are treated with disdain. Furthermore, women began working in the IT industry during World War II and there have been cases of disrespect since then.
The perception that the need for money influences women’s employment decisions is disrespectful to them. Due to historical gender norms, women must define their labor market engagement in terms of their need for money and the demands of their families rather than their own (Damaske). For example, working women believe their families need them at work to make money for daily expenses, while those who are jobless believe their families need them to stay at home and not search for a job (Marcus). Just like male employees, women in IT fields need to go to work because they are ambitious enough and aim to achieve their career goals, but not because of monetary needs and family demands.
The prevalent misconceptions that female IT employees serve as department secretaries or receptionists are another sign of disrespect (Damaske). In most IT organizations within the United States, most of the secretaries and receptionists are women (Damaske). According to Annabi and Lebovitz, these women are as educated as their male counterparts, having graduated with computer science and software engineering degrees from recognized institutions. Instead of being posted in positions worth their qualifications, they are employed as receptionists and secretaries simply because they are women. Unfortunately, lack of respect demoralizes women at work, and they do not perform to the best of their skills (Damaske). Additionally, this vice discourages female students from partaking in courses related to IT as they perceive it as a field dominated by male employees.
Women in the IT industry are paid less than males, which is another sign of disdain for them. According to recent hired worldwide research, males are paid 63% of the time more than women for the same job (Kim and O’Brien). Information Technology companies pay women, on average, 4% to 45% less than males in the same positions (Kim and O’Brien). Interestingly, the salary disparity may have remained unchanged due to the lack of compensation transparency. Employee information sharing amongst one another, which is getting more common now that the stigma is diminished and several employment sites have resources dedicated to disclosing appropriate compensation for certain positions, brings to light unfair pay practices (Gatrell). Employers who attempt to conceal their employees’ salary information risk being held accountable for pay discrimination if the information is later made public. Honesty is a must for transparency, and also essential to identify and eradicate wage inequalities in IT firms and other sectors at large.
Gender Biasness
Another reason why women could decide against working in IT is gender discrimination. Since the inception of IT, overt and hidden gender bias has occurred. For example, women have spoken of instances in which their suggestions in meetings were ignored until a man made the same proposal (Gatrell). Additionally, many women seldom even have the chance to provide recommendations during sessions, despite them having important contributions to make. Furthermore, women are sometimes viewed as less competent for roles in business technology and within IT companies, despite having qualifications that are on par with or greater than those of their male counterparts (Gatrell). Such overt demonstrations of disdain diminish the contributions of women in IT, and may affect the general performance of the company.
Stereotypes and unconscious biasness are common in the IT industry today. In most instances, unconscious prejudice causes women to question their skills and forego possibilities for education and employment that are dominated by men (Marcus). Marcus further demonstrates how male students receive greater attention in computer-related schools as compared to female students. Additionally, classroom-related problems are classified as falling within the scope of the IT educational continuum. Marcus notes that, women feel excluded from the profession because of the “good old boys” network that keeps them on the outside; women who experience sentiments of exclusion may lose confidence and leave the industry.
Gender biasness is also manifested by the lack of promotion for women in IT. Despite women having the qualifications required for a promotion, they are frequently passed over for advancements at work (Marcus). Surprisingly, their gender is the only factor in the decision and not that they are unable or lack the knowledge to occupy higher offices. Overall, this is regrettable since women executives make excellent IT leaders and ought to have access to the same opportunities as male workers.
Lack of Role Models
As the saying goes, seeing is believing; hence, female role models in the IT industry inspire younger ladies to work hard and think bigger. Particularly for women, role models are important, especially when they belong to the same gender. Role models are particularly helpful for women since they may help them overcome the gender prejudices, institutional barriers, and negative perceptions that women have long had to contend with in IT fields (Naff). In fact, the amount of women who enter and remain in this industry is significantly impacted by the presence of female role models in key IT roles.
According to Naff, most women look back and occasionally ponder the decisions they may have taken in their early adulthood if they had been more exposed to powerful female role models. Consequently, girls are deterred from pursuing jobs in IT because they cannot see other women who look and act like them thriving in such fields (Naff). Succinctly, role models show the attitudes and behaviors necessary to succeed by exemplifying what are achievable, encouraging women to be more ambitious, and setting higher goals.
Conclusion
This paper determined the challenges and barriers existing women face in IT enterprises and those aspiring to join this well-paying and fast-growing industry. In essence, women who go against the grain and pursue careers in information technology often discover that the workplace is hostile to those who do not fit into the dominant IT culture. As a result, they are shut out of the informal networks that advance and clarify the knowledge, authority, and politics of the organizations where they work. In most instances, they leave the IT industry due to job unhappiness and work-family issues.
Organizations must become more adept in persuading and keeping women to meet the high demand for IT workers. Overall, IT institutions should undertake diversity and inclusion initiatives that will attract women to IT positions, come up with annual awards to recognize women who made it in the IT field and thrive on creating a working environment that not only favors the male workforce but also favors and attracts women.
Works Cited
Annabi, Hala, and Sarah Lebovitz. “Improving the Retention of Women in the IT Workforce: An Investigation of Gender Diversity Interventions in the USA.” Information Systems Journal, vol. 28, no. 6, 2018, pp. 1049–1081. Web.
Damaske, Sarah. For the Family? How Class and Gender Shape Women’s Work. Oxford University Press, 2011.
Gatrell, Caroline. “Shattering the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Leaders in the Church of England.” Women, Business and Leadership, 2019, pp. 299–314., Web.
Kim, Young Hwa, and Karen M. O’Brien. “Assessing Women’s Career Barriers across Racial/Ethnic Groups: The Perception of Barriers Scale.” Journal of Counseling Psychology, vol. 65, no. 2, 2018, pp. 226–238., Web.
Marcus, Bonnie R. The Politics of Promotion: How High-Achieving Women Get Ahead and Stay Ahead. John Wiley & Sons, 2019.
Naff, Katherine C. To look like America: Dismantling barriers for women and minorities in government. Routledge, 2018. Web.