Social context of the ict and a gender perspective

Résumé du document

When I first realized that one of our two lecturers in "Contemporary issues in the IS field" was a woman, I was slightly surprised, though I thought it was a good thing. Indeed I had never had any female teacher in this field so far. Moreover, it is commonly admitted in western societies, that women are seldom interested in IT field. It is often due to the image of the IT staff as a man only communicating with his screen has reinforced this tendency. It could be just an assumption. The fact is that stats confirm this trend: women only represent 12.5% of IT staff in the UK, whereas they make up almost half of its workforce (N. Pantelli, courses material, 2006). In European countries, female only represent between 10 and 25 % of students studying IT (01informatique, July 2004) and this proportion has dropped. Speaking of a "gender perspective" looks thus really pertinent, in the sense that few female students chose the IT field at university, few women work in IT, and that the myth of women uninterested and incapable of working there is still very strongly applying in minds. But examining the fact more closely, it appears that these stats cannot be extended to Asian countries. Stats show that Asian students choose IT in greater proportion than students from western societies. Moreover, stats show that women are not only interested in ICT, but also very competent in dealing with technical issues as well as men are.

Extraits

[...] In fact this alleged split between the characteristics of the IT sector and women's aspirations and skills is more a socially constructed fact than a natural phenomenon. IT sector's characteristics are shaped by the commonly shared perception that it is normal that IT is a male dominated sector. This misunderstanding is first based on a poor communication from the IT sector to women potentially interested in working there. First, part of the image of the IT engineer as a man working the whole day alone with his computer and speaking with nobody is a myth. [...]

[...] This natural fact is a major rationale for their low proportion in the IT sector. “Overall, career breaks regardless of their length appeared to impede career development in IT occupations.”(Niki Panteli, 2006). Women feel lost when they have to re- entry the IT sector after a career break. It appears that the main reasons for the low proportion of women working in IT are internal to women: women, because of their deep nature, are more interested in interpersonal relationships, and skilled to interact with people, not with computers. [...]

[...] As a conclusion, women are actually interested in IT, and the so-called gender definition of work has proved to be irrelevant to explain and justify their low participation to IT industry projects. It depends on governments and organizations to adopt more women friendly organizational policies not to lose this wasted potential that is women work force. References Joyce K. Flechter A feminist reconstruction of Journal of Management inquiry, VOL.7 No June 1998, 163-186 Jordan, J. Surrey, J. & Kaplan, A (1991). Women and empathy: Implications for psychological development and psychotherapy. In Jordan, A .Kaplan, J.B Miller, I Stiver, & J. [...]

[...] It is easily understandable, since the “WinIT research” (Women in IT) lead by the Australian Research Council (see Von Hellens and Nielsen p.47) showed that most women were focus of sexual harassment, both verbally and via email”. All these factors have nothing to do with any natural rationale for women not to work in IT. They all mirror a socially constructed behaviour that can be changed. In addition to that, the structure of the IT sector is not women friendly. It results from organizational policies that can be modified. [...]

[...] This scheme influences as well the perception that women have of their competences in IT. Indeed women's self confidence as for their IT skills seems to decline as they become women : 1998 study of Australian primary an high school students' IT skills [ ] showed female perceptions of competence in IT skills to be quite high at the end of primary school (ages 12-13) but declined during high school. Female students view themselves as less competent in advanced skills, such as writing programs and building Web sites.” (Liisa von Hellens and Sue Nielsen p.49) Thus, being not attracted by IT and not feeling competent enough to work there, women abandon this field as a potential domain for career success. [...]