Embracing intersectionality in gender and IT career choice research

Abstract

Results of an examination of with-gender variation in gender stereotypes about the skills and knowledge in the IT profession demonstrates the value of applying an intersectionality perspective in the study of under represented groups in the IT field. Focusing on gender or ethnicity, alone, is insufficient to explain the under representation of women and minorities in IT careers. Rather, we believe that stratifying the population in a more nuanced manner, such as by gender within ethnic group, provides deeper insights into the phenomenon of under representation. Hence, this research approaches the topic of gender and the IT profession from the perspective of intersectionality of gender and ethnicity. Within-gender analysis reveals variation in gender stereotyping by gender-ethnic group. White females and minority males (i.e. Black and Hispanic males) exhibited the most masculine stereotyping of IT skills. In contrast, White males and minority females (i.e. Black and Hispanic females) exhibited the fewest. Three themes emerge from this research. First, the skills that will be increasingly important in the future in distinguishing equivalently credentialed IT professionals were not absorbed into the "masculine" category. Second, hegemonic masculine traits appear to be deeply entrenched in the next generation of IT professionals. Third, when peering more deeply into the gender stereotyping of skills by respondent demographics, what emerges is a pattern that emphasizes the critical role of intersectionality in gender analyses of the IT profession.

Understanding Career Choice of African American Men Majoring in Information Technology

“…Since 2000, 50 papers on the topic of under represented groups have appeared in the conference proceedings. But only ten of these papers have considered the topic of race or ethnicity [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Trauth's [12] review of papers on the topic gender and IS that were published in IS journals between 1992 and 2012 shows a similar pattern: only two out of 132 journal articles addressed the topic of race or ethnicity [13,14].…”

“…We conducted interviews with 20 IT majors at two HBCUs to uncover how their perspectives about and interest in IT careers are constructed within their cultural realities and experiences. Prior research has found that African American males' career development and choices unfold differently than for African American women and other ethnic male cohorts [6,17,18,19]. Our analysis is guided by a digital inequality framework, which posits that an individual's access to equipment, skills, social support, purpose of use, and autonomy of use will shape their relationship with technology.…”

Do economic recession and gender influence the likelihood of entry job in IT for IT graduates?

“…Specifically, females are often discouraged from taking up technology-related subjects and interests and their expertise in these areas may be under-valued [12]. These gender-based norms put pressure on men and women to conform to prescribed normative roles [8]. With the technology emphasis in IT subjects, as girls grow up, they may be less likely to choose an IT major to study [13].…”

“…According to the social constructionist perspective, individuals' perceptions are socially constructed, accepted, and internalized. Thus, men are socially perceived to be well-suited to perform stereotypically masculine roles whereas women are viewed to fit well in stereotypically feminine roles [8].…”

“…In other words, IT graduates' likelihood of entering an IT job could vary due to the contraction of business and reduced employment in a recession. However, there is a lack of studies examining the impacts of the economic recession on new IT graduates' entering an IT job, given that economic influence is suggested as an important construct as per the individual differences theory of gender and IT [8].…”