Women In The IT Field

Men ruling and controlling just about the entire work force have brought up many disagreements and has led to numerous studies being done to determine why this is. With my topic, I decided to take it further to what I have encountered and also what I have read about men dominating the IT field. Women that enter into this field have found themselves feeling out of place and even being paid differently according to STEM statistics, even if they have the same knowledge as men (Beed, Ashcraft & Blithe, 2009). At times a woman could preform a task better than a man in this field, but still have a salary that is lower than a man with the same title. Taking it to an historical context woman was viewed as the housekeeper, mother, and wife. It was …show more content…
Statistics have shown that 56% of women who have entered into the technology field and eventually left the field in a short period of time (Ashcraft & Blithe, 2009). Role models and mentors have been a key to success for women in the IT field. Research found that women were inspired by having role models that set an example of the possibility of women being successful in the IT field (Bonetta, 2010). Bonetta interviewed a woman by the name of Geraldine Richmond who stated “They may not know anyone who has gone that road, or at least no other women. So they cannot visualize where they are going to go”(2009). A committee even found that women who had a mentor were better than women who did not have a mentor (Bonetta, 2010). Amy Wagers herself felt that it was vital to having a mentor in her career that she could trust and be inspired by who was successful (Bonetta, 2010). According to interviews and research conducted by Trauth, Quesenberry, and Huang, (2009) some women have felt that mentoring has negative effects on the person be mentored. Studies have shown that some mentors have exhibit a strong characters of being a micromanager and often not allowing the person they are mentoring time to do thing independently (Trauth & Quesenberry & Huang, 2009). Research has also shown that the negative effect have been accounted for and some have taken the negative effect and transformed them into a life learning lesson of how they do …show more content…
Women after the industrial revolution were often unrepresented in the workforce (Gray, 2005). There are many different positions where women are unrepresented even as a CEO of one of the fortune 500 companies. Research showed that women who where unrepresented in IT and left IT often leading companies to loosing creativity and talent in the workforce (Wentling & Thomas, 2009). This in return leaves companies at a disadvantage because it causes a decrease in diversity (Westing & Thomas, 2009). This also was the same when it came to women not entering the IT field (Wentling & Thomas, 2009). Wentling and Thomas (2009) performed a research and found what women’s perception was on IT and education and discovered that women were more concern about the workplace environment more than the education and skills needed to get into the field. Wentling and Thomas (2009) discovered that women described working with men as being, for example, “difficult, boring, unattractive, and solitary in nature, requiring little interaction with fellow workers or…” It was also found that women even viewed the work place as isolated and that it lacked social interaction that other jobs would have. Research shows that women have been often the expressive individuals of a group and expected a work-family-like environment that was not set (Ryle, 2011). It was even discovered by Bart