A Case Study on Glass Ceiling Syndrome of Female Employees in the Information Technology Sector

Abstract

Glass ceiling syndrome is a sex-based obstacle that female employees encounter while they advance in their career. This syndrome should not be perceived only as an obstacle in the path of hierarchical progression. Glass ceiling syndrome can also manifest itself in the attitudes that may lead to income inequality and negative effects on prestige. The glass ceiling syndrome can result from the individual circumstances of women as well as from the perceptions and attitudes which are raised by some social dynamics within the organizational structure. Moreover, special roles for women and men in some occupational groups are one of the social factors which include glass ceiling syndrome. In this context, Information Technologies (IT) sector should also be investigated. In this study, the following questions are clarified: "Is the IT sector a male-oriented sector? Which factors cause glass ceiling that women in the IT sector may face? How can the real value of female employees be measured for the IT sector?''. In this context, the opinions of full-time and part-time employees in the information sectors and of the academics from the Department of Management Information Systems, training personnel for the IT sector, will be asked. To achieve this, both the questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted. As a result, it was seen that there is a prejudice against the female employees in the IT sector. Especially, it was suggested by men that female employees will struggle in the IT sector, whereas women claimed that they are successful enough. Male and female academics have different opinions about the failure of female students and male academics attribute this failure to gender factor. Male experts in IT sectors are less prejudiced against women than male academics. The findings of the study will also be significant contribution to the research questions in future studies in this field.