INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND THE GENDER FACTOR

Manju K. Ahuja
Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260

ABSTRACT

It is posited that computer systems will be more effective if need to understand this role, what the future may hold, and
women are represented equally in the design teams, project how or if IT diiTers from other professional endeavors in
steering committees, and at the upper echelons of IS man- offering opportunities to women. In this paper, our goal is
agement. A model of barriers faced by women in the field to identi@ the factors which may contribute to status of
of ‘Information Technology is presented. Three distinct women in IT. We propose a life-cycle stage model of fac-
life-stages of early education, career-choices and career ad- tors constraining women’s entry and advancement in the
vancement are analyzed. At each stage, effects of social field. These factors can be social or structural in nature.
and structural factors, which may act as barriers are identi- The model, when tested, may help explain the pyramid
fied and discussed. Interaction of social and structural fac- structure of women’s presence in the field of IT. We be-
tors at each stage is discussed. Implications for lieve that some of the factors discussed may also explain
management are outlined. the adoption patterns of certain kinds of technologies.
While many of the issues discussed are speciilc to Informa-
tion Technology, some are global issues that have resulted
INTRODUCTION from organizational changes currently occurring both in
the US and abroad in response to two critical forces -
One of the requirements for full utilization of technology is slowed economic growth in developed nations and the
that it shoutd be suited to cognitive and psychological globalization of most industries and organizations.
needs of all major user groups. These needs can be met ef-
fectively if the views of all user groups are given adequate CURRENT STATUS OF WOMEN IN
consideration. Overall effectiveness of systems can be im- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
proved if women are represented proportionately in the de-
sign teams, project steering committees, and in the upper Information Technology, in this paper, refers to all com-
echelons of IS management. Kanter (1977) has argued that puter and computer-related fields. In tandem with women’s
greater awareness of issues of gender equality raises issue rising involvement in the professions, their participation
of structural reform which, in turn, improves flexibility, professionally throughout the information technology field
innovativeness and ability to cope with new technolo~ has grown as well. However, after having peaked in 1987
and changing environment. However, trade journals and (50.2%), the proportion of women in computer and data
academic research alike have confhmed that women in in- processing industry has declined steadily, In 1990, it was
formation technology fields are concentrated at the lower back to exactly the same level (38.5?40) as it was in 1984.
levels and are underrepresented at the middle and higher Additionally, most of the female work force is concen-
levels (Frenkte, 1990; Myers, 1990). They also earn less trated at the lower end of the profession. In 1990, 86°A of
than men, even after controlling for other human capital data-enby clerks were female. As we look at middle and
factors that may explain the salary difference (Truman and higher levels, the proportion of women appears to decline.
Baroudi, 1994) In 1990, 34% of computer programmers, 33.7’% of systems
analysts (U. S. Department of labor, 1975-1990) and only
Though the topic of women’s participation in management 5% of upper management slots in IT industry are esti-
has been addressed from a variety of directions no defini- mated to be occupied by women (Myers, 1990; Science,
tive work has presented a model which explains the role of 1992).
women in the field of Information Technology. There is a
One way to predict the future proportion of women in the
Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is field is to examine the ratio of degrees awarded to women
granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for
direct commercial advantage, the ACM copyright notice and the in ‘computer and information sciences’. In 1988, the per-
title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given centages of bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees
that copying is by permission of the Association of Computing awarded to women in this area were 32 .4°/0, 26. 9°/0, and
Machinery. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee
and/or specific permission. 11.2’% respectively (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of
SIGCPR ’95, Nashville, TN, USA Statistics, 1990). The proportion of doctoral degrees in
@ 1995 ACM 0-89791 -712-xJ9510004...$505o

156
‘computer and information sciences’ has actually dwindled A MODEL OF FACTORS INFLUENCING WOMEN’S
from 16.4?4. in 1971 to 11.2% in 1988. Specifically in PROFESSIONAL CAREERS IN IT
computer science (CS), the overall number of degrees
awarded to women peaked in 1986 (Frenkel, 1990), Since In this paper, we propose a model of barriers faced by
that time, while the number of degrees in cs has been de- women which atTect their entry and performance in the
clining for men and women alike, this number for women field. We suggest that these barriers at each stage of
is declining faster for women than for men. These statistics women’s lives result in leaks in the span of IT careers (re-
may explain the low concentration of women in academia; ferred to as a “pipeline” in this paper). For the purpose of
only 6.50/. of the cs faculty is female with only 2.7°/0 occu- analysis, women’s career paths are conceptualized as being
pying the full professorships (Taulbee survey, Comrmmica- made of three distinct stages - early education, career
tions of the ACM, 1990). choices and career advancement. Early education refers to
school years during which girls and boys form their atti-
It is important to keep in mind that the proportion of tudes with regard to computers. Career choices are made
women in sciences has always been relatively low. How- during university education and entry-level jobs. The ca-
ever, the status of women in cs is much worse than a typi- reer advancement stage is the later years of one’s career
cal scientific field. While 30’%. of all doctorates in all during which job status and salary become yardsticks of
sciences were awarded to women in 1986, only 12% of one’s overall career performance. Factors which act as bar-
those went to women in CS. Also, compared to women riers for women at each of these stages are discussed.
making 49V0 of all professionals, they occupy only 35V0 of Again, in the interest of simplicity of analysis, these barri-
all cs jobs (Frenkel, 1990). The question be,gs itself - what ers are discussed under the headings of social and cultural
are the factors which make it harder for women to succeed factors. While some barriers are unique to one stage, oth-
in cs than in other professional fields (Kiesler et al. 1983)? ers impact more than one stage. Similarly, while several
of these factors may be applicable to most other profes-
The statistics do not bear out the initial optimism shown sions, some factors uniquely characterize computer related
regarding women’s participation in the field of IT. Since fields. Exposure to male-oriented soflware and battling
IT is a relatively young field, it has often been assumed with the hacker-@rome in undergraduate and gradnate
that impediments to the advancement of women long exis- schools are examples of these unique factors ( Pearl et al,
tent in other fields, such as an established “old boys net- 1990) which when integrated with other general factors
work”, a large pool of more qualitied and experienced provide a comprehensive framework for the barriers
male professionals, the lack of female role models and women face in the Information Technology field.
mentors, and established discriminatory practices, would .........................
not present the same barriers to women (Bemey, 1988). Figure la& lb about here
We argue that these viewpoints do not adequately take into -------------------------
account the variety of structural and social factors that in-
escapably and inevitably shape women’s careers in Infor- Structural Factors. The notion that the structure of institu-
mation Technology throughout industry and academia. tions can work to limit opportunities is not a new one
(Kanter, 1977; Hennig and Jardin, 1981. Blum et al.
This paper suggests that there are a combination of struc- (1994) found that structural factors account for almost half
tural and social factors which may have a cumulative effect of the variance in the percentage of women managers in an
on the path that women take in Information Technology, organization. Recent trends in IT towards globalization
Factors such as male-oriented software, hacker-culture, so- have also hampered women’s chances of getting hired for
cial conditioning, the absence of role models and mentor- positions that require travel. This is so because women are
ing in the field, and current trends in organizational and percieved to be family-oriented and unwilling to travel
institutional change are considered as possible contributors (Mum and Smith, 1988). Lack of role models and mentors,
to an observable vertical and horizontal segregation (Blum the levels of experience that women bring to academia and
and Smith, 1988). As a cautionary note, it is not the goal the marketplace are additional structural factors,
of this paper to imply that IT field is more discriminatory We argue here that the industry barriers specific to IT,
than any other field but merely to propose a testable model such as male orientation of the software, can be subsumed
of barriers which may exist in the field. by structural factors. This is so because these are en-
trenched in the very nature of the industry and tend to be
enduring in spite of the relatively dynamic nature of the IT
industry.

Social Factors. These are cultural biases which incorpo-

rate both the internal view that women have of themselves

157
(self-expectations), and the external view of women such as ‘guns, space missiles and warships’ which are en-
(stereotyping, for example) that is held by society in gen- gaged in aggressive action and competition (13eyers, 1984).
eral. For example, Sheinin and others (Barinaga, 1992; Cooper et al. demonstrated how this factor maybe empiri-
Konrad & Cannings, 1990) have suggested that one factor cally tested for its psychological effect on girls. They
that explains gender differentials in salary and promotions showed that male-oriented software can create computer-
is the variety of roles that women assume - wife, mother, & related performance anxiety in girls at a very young age.
caretaker - during peak periods of their professional and As a result, girls may avoid using the software and may
academic careers. Some of the cultural factors can become not become comfortable in use of computers which can af-
ingrained in the nature of the industry, eg. male oriented fect their fhture performance in the field. A related deter-
software, that they must be considered as structural in rent for girls may be the presence of boy’s club atmosphere
nature. in computer rooms (Lockheed, 1985).

These factors interact throughout women’s lives and have There is evidence that structured exposure to computer
different impacts at different stages of women’s lives and software minimizes the sex difference in attitudes and use
careers. in college freshmen while unstructured conditions amplify
the differences (Arch and Cummins, 1989). It needs to be
Dependent Variable investigated whether this is true for young boys and girls
so that curricula maybe designed accordingly.
The dependent variables in this model are the ‘likelihood
that a woman will choose IT as a career’ and the ‘likeli- Social Barriers influencing Stage I
hood that a woman will succeed in her career in the field
of IT’. Success, in this context, has two dimensions: one is Social expectations
persisting (’not dropping out’) in the field of IT and the Social factors in this context are embedded in cultural vai-
other is performance at every stage of her career. Each ues which are, consciously or unconsciously, reflected in
barrier can cause leaks in the pipeline in three ways: it can our child-rearing practices. These values in turn play a
by itself resuit in a leak (’dropping out’) at any stage in the role in shaping the child’s own values and self-
pipeline, can contribute to a cumulative effect of all social expectations. In ours as well as most other societies, girls
and structural barriers at that stage (c,d,e), and/or across and boys are given different signals in a variety of ways
stages (a,b) (Figure la). Figure la depicts the relation- throughout their formative years (KoIata, 1984)
ships between the three stages and the dependent variable.
Figure lb shows the various barriers and specifies cumula- Early on, boys are expected and encouraged to use comput-
tive nature of these barriers across stages (1,2,6,8,9,12), ers both at home and school (Fetler, 1985; Turkle, 1988).
interaction of barriers within social or structural factors Girls are given signals that they should be interested in
(5,10,1 1) and interaction of barriers across social and dolls (Turkle, 1988). They are less likely than boys to be
structural factors (3,4,7). sent to computer classes and camps (Hess and Miura,
1985). Also, girls are steered toward softer subjects like
In the following sections, we will discuss different struc- liberal arts and literature, and away from math and sci-
tural and social barriers at the three stages, their interac- ences. They are taught the ‘feminine’ virtues of patience,
tions and effects on success of women in the field of IT. cooperation, empathy, non-competitiveness, non-
aggression etc. Determining the extent to which gender-
differentiating behavior appearing in adulthood is due to
Stage k Early Educational Stage childhood experiences or genetics still remains unan-
swered. Regardless of the debate on the extent of its effect,
Early educational experiences refer to negative or positive the role of social expectations on cofildence levels and
experiences with computers during early education which performance is well documented (Collis, 1985).
help form life-long attitudes towards computers and re-
lated technologies. Gender differences in attitudes regarding computers are
strongly established in grade school (Collis, 1985) and
Structural Barriers intuencing Stage I widen with age (Smith, 1986). Attitudes towards comput-
ers, in turn, have been correlated to achievement in the
Male-oriented software computer related classes (Fetler, 1985).
Several studies have demonstrated that most computer
software used in schools has a male-orientation (Kiesler et Future studies should distinguish between two ways boys
al. 1985; Cooper, Hall and Huff, 1990; Huff and Cooper, and girls respond to social expectations. One, boys and
1987; Beyers 84). These softwares use masculine symbols girls may respond to other people’s expectations and, two,

158
can themselves become conditioned into believing that Proposition 1: Social expectations are more likely to lead
other people’s expectations represent their real ability. At to negative attitudes towards computers in girls than in
the former level, altering the expectations and offering boys during stage I.
structured training can enhance achievement of girls in
computer classes. In the latter case, however, the process Proposition 2: Social expectations will have more negative
may take more than changing the stimuli amd require fun- effect on women’s performance in computer-related fields
damental change in attitudes. Collis (1985) presented a re- during stage I than during stages 11or III.
markable finding that girls expressed general confidence
in female abilities with regard to computers but did not Proposition 3: Male oriented software is more likely to
display the same confidence in their own a~bilities as indi- lead to negative attitudes towards computers in girls than
viduals displaying a ‘we can, but I can’t’ syndrome. in boys during stage I.
Genderization of Science
Proposition 4a: Attitudes formed regarding computers and
The nature of science itself may also play a role in how their use during early education will influence choice of
suitable women are perceived to be in the role of scientist. computer-related fields as a career.
The hard sciences are based on the assumption that the
subject and object are radically separate (Keller, 1985). Proposition 4b: Attitudes formed regarding computers and
Science is built on the notion of a ‘single truth’ rejects the their use during early education will influence perform-
notion of multiplicity of truths. CS goes onc step further by ance in computer-related fields.
dividing the wodd into binary digits. Thiis becomes evi-
dent to the user of computer technology in the way that Stage II: Career Choices Stage
most software is written.
At this stage, women make the critical choices about the
This view of science is in direct contrast to the stance girls field in which they would like to pursue a career. The ca-
and women are encouraged to take throughout their lives reer choices stage consists of university education and ini-
(Turkle, 1988). Turkle (1988) suggests that the masculine tial stages of career. At this stage, self and social
culture which endorses decomposition, decisiveness, impo- expectations continue to play an important role. At the
sition of will and analysis of concepts with a top-down ap- same time, as women enter both educational institutions
proach, is in synchronization with the world of computer and industry, structural factors begin to play larger roles in
systems; the feminine culture, which is empathetic, caring their careers. The two main structural barriers at this
and non-domineering, on the other hand, is inherently at stage are a lack of role models and mentors, and the
odds with it. hacker-culture existing in cs departments. The main social
barriers are social expectations and work-family conflict.
Interaction of Social and Structural Factors at Stage I. So- Social expectations factor has been discussed extensively
cial and structural factors interact to produce varied psy- in the earlier section and will not be discussed here.
chological and real barriers which may inhibit girls’
learning and comfort with using computers. At the early Structural Barriers influencing Stage II
education stage, social expectations may fuel the stress
caused by male oriented software and produce performance Hacker-culture
anxiety. Cooper et al. demonstrated that girls feel less The “hacker-culture” prevalent in the world of information
stressed while using the computer in public settings when technology incorporates exceptionably long hours, late
the software is word-related as opposed to weapon-related nights and “highly focused, almost obsessive behavior”
(Cooper et al. 1990). On the other hand, social expecta- (Frenkel, 1990). For many women, this work-ethic may
tions are reinforced if performance suffers due to anxiety. conflict with their safety concerns and family responsibili-
Further, software bias is perhaps a result of designer bias ties. The hackers who are predominantly male are seen as
which is a form of social expectations. Further research is being “bright and creative”. Women remain on the periph-
required to investigate the process by which the factors dis- ery of this dominant culture. Missing out on valuable inter-
cussed in this section lead to demographical trends in the action with faculty and colleagues can translate into
field of IT so that intervention can be targeted most missed opportunities for learning and participation in pro-
effectively. jects (Rasmussen and Hapnes, 1991). Rasmussen and
Hapnes suggest that “the culture of CS is important in pro-
In this section, we have shown that social and structural ducing and reproducing male domination in higher educa-
barriers to women’s performance in IT start having an ef- tion in CS. Thus, it influences the integration of women
fect during early education. Based on above discussion, and their position within the field of computing” (p. 1108).
we present the following propositions:

159
Lack of Mentors and Role Models keep women outside the inner circles of IT, The predomi-
At this stage where women make critical decisions about nantly male faculty is also a part of this culture which re-
their careers, presence of role models can be very instru- sults in minimum faculty interaction, guidance and
mental in steering them in one direction or the other. By mentoring for female students. Limitations caused by
their very presence, role models provide evidence that a work-family conflict help reinforce the stereotype that ca-
successful career in the field is a possible and unremark- reers are only a second priority for women.
able occurrence (Pearl et al, 1990). Since only 5°A of up-
per management in IT industry (Science, 1992) and 6.5% In line with the arguments presented in this section, the
of faculty positions (Frenkel, 1990) are held by women, following propositions can be developed:
such guidance and support for female students is severely
limited. Proposition 5a: During stage H, the hacker-culture will
negatively influence women’s choice of IT as a career.
Mentoring has been found to be critical in the advance-
ment of professional careers (Ram, 1983; and Burke, Proposition 5b: During stage 11, the hacker-culture will
1984). In general, women face more gender-related inter- negatively influence women’s performance in computer-
personal and organizational barriers in their obtaining a related fields.
mentor than men (Ragins and Cotton, 1991; Kram, 1985;
and Ragins, 1989). Women have less access to informal Proposition 6: During stage II, a lack of role models will
settings necessary for initiating and building mentor rela- negatively influence women’s choice of IT as a career.
tionships (Hunt & Michael, 1983). Other reasons for this
may be that men and women find it more comfortable to Proposition 7: Work-family conflict will have more nega-
mentor proteges of the same gender (Kram, 1985) and tra- tive effect on women’s performance in computer-related
ditional expectation for women to take a passive role in fields during stage 11than during stage III.
initiating relationships (Hill, Bahniuk & Dobos, 1989).
Stage IIZ Career Advancement Stage
Several studies have successfully demonstrated the effect
of this factor on women’s advancement in various areas After several years of work experience, men and women
(ICram, 1983; and Burke, 1984). To our knowledge, no are considered ready for higher-level positions. We call
studies have been conducted to assess its effect in the field this a stage of career advancement. At this stage, stmc-
of IT. tural barriers are the hardest to overcome. Yet social bar-
riers still play a major role.
Work-family Conflict
Many women’s early career experiences coincide with the The structural barriers at this stage are the changing stmc-
stage in a woman’s life when she is marrying and starting ture of industry itself, and continuing lack of mentors. So-
a family. At this stage in their lives, professional women cial barriers include an ‘old boys network’ and continuing
are faced with trying to manage a career, a home, and ‘work-family conflict’.
child care. Additionally, women who have full personal
lives may be viewed as lacking a strong commitment to Structural Barriers at Stage 111
their work or not being as serious about their careers as
their male colleagues (Barinaga, 1992). 0r2anizational/Institutional Structure
Another factor that has a life long effect on women’s pro-
It k at this point that women begin to lag behind men in fessional careers is the structural forces at work within or-
terms of promotions. Duxbury and Mills (1989) did profile ganizations. Fryxell and Lerner (1989) analyzed
analysis of35 9 dual career couples and found that women characteristics of firms which have underrepresented
who put their careers first or on par with their husbands groups in top management positions and those which do
careers face more conftict at home than women who put not. They found that firms engaged in high-tech areas
their careers second. Also, men and women who do not needed far more women that the firms in other fields.
use the “electronic briefcase” (working at home on the
computer for work) experience similar levels of work- Current competitive forces--both globalization and down-
family conflict while the women who used the “electronic sizing--have resulted in decreased opportunities for women
briefcase” experienced significantly more conflict than the in information technology and across industries (Bwris,
men who did and women who didn’t. 1989). Severat organizations have flattened their structure
by eliminating many middle management positions which
Interaction between structural and social barriers at Stage represented promotional opportunities for professional
II. The hacker-culture interacts with social expectations to women and men who entered these organizations during

160
the 1970’s and 1980’s (Blum & Smith, 1988). Universities Proposition 11: Mentoring will have more negative effect
have also been affected by economic factors which have on women’s performance in computer-related fields during
led to a decrease in tenured positions, and an increase in stage 111than during stage II.
“temporary” positions such as lecturers where women are
concentrated (Science, 1992). Proposition 12: During stage III, structural factors will
have more adverse effect than social factors on women ad-
As many firms become global, promotional paths require vancement in IT.
an international assignment for which many women are
not considered (Adler, 1984). Women currently represent
only 3% of expatriate managers, and Adler’s (1984) work CONTRIBUTION AND LIMITATIONS
suggests that this may be due to the perception of male
managers that women will not be accepted in this role The model presented here synthesizes the literature in the
rather than women’s refusal of international assignments. area of women’s status of the field of IT and presents a
general research agenda of barriers to women’s entry and
Social Barriers at Stage III advancement. The purpose of this paper has been to en-
courage fhrther investigation of the measurement and as-
Old Bovs networks sessment issues involved in the study of these barriers.
The failure of women to achieve upper-level positions or Three basic research phases are necessary to answer the
gain access to those in such positions tendl to perpetuate conceptual, empirical and analytic questions. At the con-
the itiormal network structures. These informal networks ceptual level, it is important to assess whether the three
are an effective tool for male advancement which had been stages of early education, career choices and career ad-
established before women started climbing the professional vancement in IT are distinguishable. The assumption here
ladders. Some of this network, often referrecl to as the “old is that the nature of these barriers is distributional; that is,
boy’s club”, is based on masculine activities, which reflect women drop out of computer career pipeline at several dif-
traditional social and cultural roles, such as sports talk, ferent points and the reason for this attrition can not be
golf tournaments etc. and other shared experiences as a found in one place. As a result, any attempt to measure
means for building camaraderie. As studies on mentoring the impact of any one variabie is bound to be incomplete.
suggest, women are often left out of these informal net- Also, as with most process models such as this one, longi-
works of ‘power sharing and dissemination’ across industry tudinal studies are required to capture the full complexity
and academia (Ragins and Cotton, 1991; Kram, 1983). of the model (Mohr, 1982). It must be noted, however,
that it is very difficult, if not impossible to conduct a single
Interaction of structural and social factors a,t Stage IIL A longitudinal study to include all three stages. Stage-wise
lack of adequately experienced women is often cited as the investigation of variables and processes involved may be
prime reason behind absence of women from upper man- more practical. For example, a study could follow gresh
agement levels. To the extent that this might be true, a graduates in their IT careers for a few years. Similarly,
lack of opportunities at the three career stages may con- high school juniors could be studied to see if they receive
tribute to this situation. Stereotypes of women not wanting mentoring in computer related fields. The students could
to travel may lead to low recruiting of women in high-level then be followed through their graduation to assess
positions requiring international travel. Further, as a dis- whether mentoring determines career choices. These type
proportionately low number of women make it to upper of studies to measure contextual variables and their impact
management, it contributes to a lack of mentors for junior of selection outcomes have been recommended in general
computer scientists. Propositions pertaining to career ad- management area as well (Perry, Davis-Blake and Tulik,
vancement stage are presented below 1994).

Proposition 8: During stage III, an ‘old boys network’ will At the empirical level, adequate measures for factors in-
negatively iniluence women’s advancement in the field of volved at each stage need to be developed. Table 1 summa-
IT. rizes the research issues at the three stages discussed. The
early education and career choices stages have received
Proposition 9: During stage 111,a hacker-culture will nega- some attention in the past, The career advancement stage
tively influence women’s advancement in the field of IT. has largely been ignored which may be due to the difficulty
of measurement and need for longitudinal studies.
Proposition 10: During stage HI, a lack of mentors will
negatively influence women’s advancement in the field of The last research phase involves assessing the impact of
IT. attrition and lack of women’s advancement on issues of
technology transfer. Effect of any one factor may be

161
ditlicult to measure as several factors may be at play si- community if it is to be effective. The input of women in
multaneously. It is important to identi@ contextual vari- decision-making, design and implementation at higher
ables which are more conducive to retention and levels can contribute significantly to finding effective ways
advancement of women. The effects of retention and ad- of reaching female users in the diffusion process.
vancement of women on adoption and implementation of
new technologies needs to be assessed. We have hypothe- Women’s low status has signhlcant costs in terms of lost
sized that an organization featuring equal participation of contributions, limiting the talent pool and wasted training
women will be more successful in its innovation and im- and recruiting money (Schwartz, 1992). Many of the social
plementation efforts. issues raised in this paper may be beyond the scope of im-
mediate management action. However, some of the struc-
This model lends itself to both qualitative methods to study tural problems may be addressed through reward structures
the processes and quantitative methods to study the empiri- and user training.
cal relationships between variables. Individual barriers
can also be tested for their influence on success of women It is important to consider the reasons for the lack of
in IT. Experiments can be performed to test some of the women’s participation in this leading-edge industry while
factors discussed. For example, the effect of software ori- the industry is still in a formative stage. Ident@ing spe-
entations (use of on stress levels and learning can be tested CKIC factors responsible for loss of valuable human re-
inlab settings. Survey and interview techniques can be util- sources, as outlined in this paper, will be usefil guiding
ized to test the effect of structural factors such as policy decisions concerning the performance of women in
mentoring. IT.

Perhaps the biggest limitation of this model is the difli Several steps can be taken to improve the situation.
culty of separating the external influence from individual Among them are provisions for access to computers for
freedom. It must be acknowledged that the nature of the women throughout the education system, to improve pa-
proposed model is deterministic. The influence of external rental education, to provide more child-care options for
factors does not imply an absence of individual choice and working coupies (Sheridan, 1988), to create more formal
control. While we think that the model presented here mentoring relationships, and to provide more reentry op-
may explain significant variance in the phenomenon, it tions for female computer scientists (Frenkel, 1990).
can not explain ali variance.

Another issue of concern is the choice of level of analysis REFERENCES

in testing this model. The individual level of analysis
would appear to be appropriate to test the model presented Adler, N,J. 1984. Women do not want international ca-
here. However, phenomena explored here operate at a mi- reers: And other myths about international management.
cro as well as macro level and investigating such phenom- Organizational Dynanu “CS,13 (2, Autumn): 66-79.
ena can pose difficult questions.
Arch, E. and Cummins, D. 1989. Structured and T3nstruc-
IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGEMENT tured Exposure to Computers: Sex Differences in Attitude
and Use Among College Students. Sex Roles 20(5/6):
IT has become the backbone of organizational competitive- 245-254.
ness. If the field of IT does not draw from the entire pool
of competent candidates, it may not be able to exploit the Barinaga, M. 1992. Profile of a field: Neuroscience (The
best talent available. If the pool of candidates gets even pipeline is leziking). Science, 13 March, 255: 1366-1367.
smaller at the higher level, the quality of decision making
at the organization may suffer. SpecKlcally, women’s early Berney, K. 1988. Where women are welcome. Nation’s
training in nurturant and relationship styles (ICanter, 1977) Business, August: 26R-27R.
can be especially suited for their interactions with users
during systems design and for consensus building during Beyers, C. 1984. Bridging the gender gap. Familv Com-
implementation. P.K@MLAu~st: 38-41.

Women’s increased participation in the workforce in the Blum, L., & Smith, V. 1988. Women’s mobility in the
recent decades means that they form a significant part of corporation: A critique of the politics of optimism. Signs,
the user community using information technologies. Diffn- Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 13(3): 528-545.
sion and implementation of new technology must consider
cognitive and psychological needs of the entire user

162
Blum, T., Fields, D., Goodman, J. 1994, (lrganizational- Hunt, D.M., & Michale, C. 1983. Mentorship: A career
level Determinants of Women in Management, Academy development training tool, Academy of Mana~ement Re-
of Management Journal, 37, 2, 241-268. mvi, 8: 475-485.

Burke, R.J. 1984. Mentors in organizations. Grouu and Kanter, R.M. 1977. Men and Women of the Corporation.
Organizational Studies, 9: 353-372. New York: Basis Books.

Burris, B. 1989. Technocracy and Gender in the Work- Keller, E. 1985. Reflections on Gender and Science. New
place. Social Problems, 36(2): 165-180. Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Campbell, P.F., & McCabe, G.P. 1984. Predicting the Kiesler, S., Sproull L., & Eccles, J. 1985. Pool Halls,
success of freshmen in a computer science major. Corn- Chips, and War Games: Women in the Culture of Comput-
munications of the ACM, 27(11): 1108-1113. ing. Psych. Women Ouarterrly, 9:451-465.

Collis, B. 1985. Psychosocial implications of sex differ- Kolata, G. 1984. Equal time for women. Discover, Janu-
ences in attitudes toward computers: Results of a survey. ary: 24-27,
International Journal of Women’s Studies, 8(3): 207-213.
Kram, K.E, 1983. Phases of mentor relationships. ~
Cooper, J., Hall, J., and Huff, C. 1990. Situational stress emv of Management Journala 26:608-625.
as a consequence of sex-stereotyped software. Personality
and Social Psvchologv Bulletin, 16(3): 419-429. Kram, K.E. 1985. Mentoring at work. Glenview, IL:
Scott, Foresman & Co.
Duxbury, L., & Mills, S. 1990, The electronic briefcase
and work-family conflict: An analysis by gender. Proceed- Lockheed, M. 1985. Women, Girls, and Computers: A
ing of International Conference on Information Systems: First Look at the Evidence. Sex Roles, 13:115-122.
165-172.
Myers, K. 1990. Cracking the glass ceiling: Despite some
Fetler, M. 1985. Sex Differences on the California State- high-profile gains, women executives in IS remain a rare
wide Assessment of Computer Literacy. Sex Roles phenomenon. Information Week, August 27,284: 38.
13(3/4), 181-191.
Pearl, A., et al. 1990. Becoming a Computer Scientist.
Frenkel, K.A. 1990. Women and computing. Communica- Communications of the ACM, 33(11): 48-57.
tions of the ACM, 33(11):33-46.
Perry, E., Davis-Blake, A., Kulik, C. 1994. Explaining
Fryxell G., & Lemer, L. 1989. Contrasting Corporate Pro- Gender-Based Selection Decisions: A Synthesis of Con-
files: Women and Minority Representation in Top Man- textual and Cognitive Approaches. Academv of Mana~e-
agement Positions. Journal of Business EthiQ 8:341-352. ment Review, 19, 4, :786-820.

Chies, D., & Marsh, D, 1992. The 1989-910 Taulbee sur- Ragins, B.R. 1989. Barriers to mentoring: The female
vey. Communications of the ACM, January, 35(l): manager’s dilemma. Human Relations, 42: 1-22.
133-143.
Ragins, B.R., & Cotton, J.L. 1991. Easier said than done:
Hennig, M., & Jardin A. 1981. Managerial Woman, An- Gender differences in perceived barriers to gaining a men-
chor Books, NY. tor. Academv of Management Journal, 34(4): 939-951.

Hill, S.E.K., Bahniuk, M.H., & Dobbs, J. 1989. The im- Rasmussen, B., & Hapnes, T. 1991. Excluding women
pact of mentoring and collegial support on faculty success: from the technologies of the fiture: A case study of the
An anatysis of support behavior, information adequacy, culture of computer science. Futures, 23(10): 1107-1119.
and communication apprehension. Communication Edu-
cation, 38: 15-33. Rhode, D.L. 1990. Gender equality and employment pol-
icy. In S. E. Rix (Ed.), The American Woman,
Huff C!., & Cooper J. 1987. Sex Bias in Educational Soft- 1990-1991: A Status Report. New York, NY: W.W.
ware: The Effect of Designers’ Stereotypes on the Software Norton & Company.
They Design. Journal of Atmlied Social Psvchologv,
17(6): 519-532.

163
Science. 1992. Women in science. 13 March, 255:
1365-1376.

Sheinin, R. 1989. Women as scientists: Their rights and

obligations. Journal of Business Ethics, February/March,
8(2): 131-155.

Sheridan, J.H. 1988, IBM expands its personal leave,

‘flex’ policies. Industrv Week, November 7, 237(9):
21-22.

Shwartz, F. 1992. Women as a Business Imperative. ~

vard Business Review, March-April, 105-113.

Smith, S. 1986. Relationships of Computer Attitudes to

Sex, Grade Level, and Teacher Influence. Education, 106,
338-344.

Taulbee Survey. 1990. Communications of the ACM

33(11).

Truman, G., & Baroudi, J. 1994. Gender Differences in

the Information Systems Managerial Ranks: An Assess-
ment of Potential Discriminatory Practices, MIS C)uarterl~
18,2:129-141.

Turkle, S. 1984. The Second Self Computers and the Hu-

man Spirit. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Turkle, S. 1988. Computational reticence: Why women

fear the intimate machine. In C. Kramarae (Ed.), Tech-
nology and Women’s Voices. New York: Routledge &
Kegan Paul, Inc.

U.S. Department of Labor , Bureau of Labor Statistics.

1975-1990. Employment and Earnings. Washington, D. C.:
U.S. Government Printing OffIce.

164
 Table 1: Summary of Representative Studies on Barriers for Women in IT

kudy Independent Variables Dependent Variables

-I
7ex-biased Sojware
hper Male-oriented software Situational stress in girls

kff and Cooper Designer stereotypes Sex-bias in software

;arly Education
ietler Exposure to computers at home & school Enrollment & achievement

;ollis (1985) Unstructured participation in class Confidence in girls

and tleacher attitude

irch and Cummin Structured training Confidence &value in machine

Iess and Muira (1985) Gender Attendance in computer

classes and camps
Ioward and Smith

Imith (1986) Sex, grade level, and teacher influence Computer attitudes

.ockheed (1985) Gender Computer usage

;enderization of Science

Leller (1985)

‘urkle (1984)
.

tage H
racker Culture

kunsusen andHapnes(1991) Teacher influence Effect on women

;ampbell and McCabe (1 984) Persistence and success as

computer science major

!entoring

taj?e III
Vork-family con$ict

hmbury and Mills (1990) Electronic Briefcase Coping with work-family conflict
(office work at home using a computer)
organizational Change

ikUTiS (1989) Technocratic Organizations Opportunities for women

165
 Early
Stage I Education
m

d Success in
Career
Stage II Choices
the field of
[T

Stage Ill
k
FIGURE la
Model of Barriers Faced by Women in the Field of IT

Stage 1 Stage 11 Stage [11

“ Structural
Factors
--L I
Hacker
Culture I
A- I
Organizational
Structure I
m

3 4
m
I I
-%1- Lackof
Mentors 1-
Social
Factors

--L- Social
Expectations
m

L&&-1 --%

FIGURE lb
Work-Family
Conflii I
Structural & Social Barriers at the Three Career Stages
166