Our latest research piece, published here, looks at the careers of three women born nearly 60 years apart, “… just a few of the many inspiring women who broke down the societal barriers of the working world, whilst pursuing their own careers in the IT industry”. It was written by an AIT volunteer, Sophia, a recent humanities graduate, who concludes that over a period of “increasing emancipation of the role and status of women … challenges people face can be similar, but they have changed over time … and that …They offer an excellent insight … as a possible explanation as to why more did not get involved.”
It is a really interesting people story that says a lot about the industry but, I find myself asking:
Do the achievements of these three really show that things have changed?
Is it such gender-biased treatment that puts women off the industry?
What is in our Archive of oral history that might help solve the problem?
I don’t claim the following be a rigorous analysis of the problem, which others have done well on many occasions but perhaps some anecdotal observations from my review of our recent interviews with high achieving women in IT which might shed some light.
Have things changed?
Firstly, have things changed? Certainly, employment practice has changed and sexism is no longer politically correct. However, I can report that there are accounts in our interviews of prejudice in action. Pamela Cook, CEO of Infoshare reports two instances of gender bias: one at interview stage, where having been the one woman amongst 10 applicants, the employer struggled to find a justification for appointing her over a man. A potential investor also rejected her business case on the basis of gender. Professor Dame Wendy Hall gives a similar account of interview board prejudice and Professor Dan George describes the attitude of men in meetings making assumptions about seniority and authority based on gender. Vin Murria, describes being assessed disparagingly as “young, female and Asian”.
There is a flaw in my assessment methodology though: my own sample is biased. These are the experiences of women who have overcome the obstacles and so are self-selecting as a sample of high achievers. There is no doubt that women determined to overcome the obstacles can achieve in the industry but we don’t know how many similar occurrences led people to just give up. I suspect, then, that while regarded as unacceptable it still goes on. It would be really good to hear from younger people who have recent experience in the industry that has put them off.
Does gender based treatment put women off IT?
Secondly, are these the factors that deter people from getting involved in IT? Intuitively it would seem that they are factors that relate to potential high achievers in the IT industry but the gender distribution problem in the industry is not restricted to senior levels.
The gender bias is also apparent in IT related education and many surveys have suggested that IT (and indeed STEM more generally) is perceived as a “boys” thing. Indeed, Mandy Chessell observed in her interview that in spite of being recognised by IBM and the Royal Academy of Engineering as one of the most accomplished software engineers in the industry, it raised eyebrows that a woman had achieved that. Being a “man’s job” becomes a self-sustaining phenomenon: see Sophia’s comments on “tribes” and “strength in numbers”.
How can we change things?
So, to question three: “What would make it a “girls” thing to do?” In the study from PWC, supporting the establishment of TechSheCan, “Women in Tech, Time to close the gender gap”, a survey showed that 50% of the females we interviewed say the most important factor when choosing their future career is “feeling like the work I do makes the world a better place/has a wider impact”. This rings a bell with me, again based on looking at the collection of interviews from engineers and scientists who are using IT, allied with other disciplines, to develop practical solutions that improve people’s lives. Appropriately, it was put very well by a high achieving woman, Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering,:
Our interviews offer numerous examples of IT enabling transformative healthcare: Prof Denis Noble, Sir Michael Brady, Prof Jim McLaughlin. And with more conventional data processing, Pamela Cook again citing the use of information to identify people at risk.
I wonder if the industry needs to do a bit more image development as a caring profession that makes a difference? Certainly, it’s a message that AIT wants to make more visible.
