What prevents women from making a career in IT?
Journalist Sue Gardner she worked as a producer at the Canadian Radio and Television Corporation Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ten years before joining the Wikimedia educational project in 2007. Last year, she left the position of the executive director of the fund, but according to her, life-determining events occurred earlier: in 2012, the US Congress proposed two bills that infringed on the freedom of information and conscience on the Internet, and this caused a series of protests. According to Gardner, it was then that she thought about the trajectory of the Internet, and wanted to take steps to democratize it.
This intention of hers resulted, among other things, in an open project on sexism in IT: Gardner and all sympathizers collect research results that show how they really treat women in the field of technology and why they leave it. The document combines the data of more than 200 surveys, completed by about half and is available to all comers, not only for reading but also for comments. At the moment, "Why women leave tech: what the research says" are 40 pages about the main and not always obvious obstacles that women face in the field of information technology. We chose the most important thing to know about the problem.
Why does the IT industry have more women?
It is difficult to obtain data reflecting the exact demographics of the entire industry, but it can be argued that about 15% of women are involved in it. In 2014, the online portal Statista deduced that in Silicon Valley workers were not even working in one of the five technical posts. The reasons for which you can want to increase the number of active women in IT are many. The more diverse the technical community, the more diversified their products come out. Studies show that heterosexual teams are more creative, productive and innovative. Companies with a non-homogeneous composition of participants (that is, supporting the principle of diversity) are more profitable, and those where women occupy leadership positions show higher rates of sales, profits and wages. In addition, this is an ethical question for companies: it turns out that working conditions in them are suitable exclusively for men.
Do women leave IT to devote themselves to family?
No, research says that women leave the technology sphere precisely because of the family no more often than women from other areas. The main reason for leaving the industry is in no way related to the balance between personal life and work; Women do not stop working at all, they stop working in IT. According to many of them, they do not receive an appropriate salary qualification and do not see the possibility of moving up the career ladder. For any person, it is normal for 35 years to feel satisfaction from work and a built career, and the fact that women in IT cannot feel it is unnatural and leads to the fact that many of them leave the sphere and very rarely return to it.
How does the career of women in IT usually develop?
Research confirms that for the first few years women are full of enthusiasm and ambition. They come to the field for the same reasons as men: they like technology and want to work with talented people to solve complex problems. The girls know that the team will be predominantly masculine, but they do not see any problems in this. However, over time, the Machist culture of communication begins to tire, the salary remains low (in general, 12% lower than that of men), many do not develop relationships with their superiors.
At about 35, women's careers are stagnating, some succeed in taking minor management positions, but due to the lack of a network of professional contacts, competent mentors and just a sufficient number of role models, it is difficult to rise higher. For any person to feel job satisfaction at thirty is normal and expected, but the fact that most women do not receive it in IT is not surprising. It is at this moment that many of them go to work in other areas.
What about men?
Many men from childhood feel supported for their interest in technology. Most of their colleagues are of the same sex with them, so it is easier for them to join the team and form a network of useful contacts. They are not suspected of lack of competence, like women, and do not become less pleasant for their colleagues if they do their job at the proper level. Young talented young men are immediately noticed by large companies, and at 35 their career continues to grow.
What challenges do women face in IT?
Male groups are prone to sexist jokes and stereotyping, which creates an unfavorable climate for women. If they know that their colleagues and their boss think they are less capable, they can actually work less effectively than their skills allow. In addition, women are more likely to suffer from the impostor syndrome and are generally less self-confident than men, the institute of female mentoring has not yet formed in the industry, and mature men are afraid to take girls under the wing. If a woman is assessed by her colleagues as competent, she automatically causes less sympathy from them and seems to them to be domineering, sharp and aggressive. Well, in case of failure, women are given a second chance less often than men.
Among the things that would help them feel better at work and continue their careers, women call for help in drawing up a career plan and overcoming the impostor syndrome, adequate wages, examples of successful women, mentors and a supportive community.
Why successful women are often awarded negative characteristics?
In 2014, an analysis of 248 written assessments of 105 men and 75 women from 28 companies showed that men received negative evaluations of themselves only in two cases out of 83, and women - in 71 out of 94. The qualities that were attributed to the latter: authority, rigidity, aggressiveness . This is explained by the difference in what kind of behavior is expected at work from any employee and which one - from a woman. Employees are expected to be assertive, carry out tasks clearly and clearly express their thoughts, while women at the same time should be kind, sensitive and successful in communication. Therefore, when a woman behaves at work simply as a person, people see this as a violation of gender norms and in fact assess the femininity of a woman, and not the quality of her work.
What are IT companies doing to make women more comfortable to work?
Based on the annual reports and corporate social responsibility reports of a number of companies, we can say that Oracle, IBM, Google, Yelp and Salesforce (in 2014, 29 to 47% of women worked in them) introduce employee interaction programs. IBM, Cisco, HP, Intel, Yelp and Texas Instruments sponsor mentoring and coaching programs. In Yahoo! There is a Women in Tech group that helps develop the skills needed for the job, Microsoft and Dell have similar education. LinkedIn holds an annual women's hackathon. Many companies, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Mozilla, Spotify, Python, sponsor conferences and organizations that aim to increase the qualitative presence of women in IT. And Google conducts workshops aimed at debunking stereotypes about different groups of employees, allocated not only on the basis of gender.
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