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Why is the IT Sector Still Dominated by Men?

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Why is the IT Sector Still Dominated by Men?

Posted by Guest Blogger 18 October 2011 Business |  Careers |  Guest blogger |  Technology |  Women |  Women in business Written by Steph Goodman

When you hear someone say the word ‘geek’, what image do you conjure up in response to it? You can bet that it’s a man, regardless of what your particular geek image may be. This is because despite the massive progression women have made across most industries over the past few years, IT still seems to be lagging behind when it comes to opening up to intelligent, talented and inspirational women.

Recently, the IT industry has been dominating the news, with the loss of renowned genius Steve Jobs, and the various antics of top gurus such as Bill Gates and Larry Ellison reaching the media’s grapevine. However, when we look at the most influential people in the business, very few women indeed have managed to make a name for themselves. Why is this? Why, when we look at your average corporate company and their IT department, are so few women choosing to focus on this career path?

Negative stereotyping across the industry
The first thing that comes to mind when we consider why the technology sector is still dominated by men is that women simply don’t have access to the opportunities that men have, to enter the industry and make a mark for themselves. However, as more and more schools migrate across to IT platforms for basic skills such as word processing and spreadsheet development, this actually simply isn’t the case. Women are embraced in education for IT subjects, and there are equal opportunities for women and men to learn new IT skills, take degrees and enhance their development in the field.

If it’s not a lack of opportunity for women, what other factors could be preventing the fairer sex from entering the profession? Unfortunately, it seems that the IT sector is still suffering from a form of backwards negative stereotyping. Just as our concept of what constitutes a geek is influenced by the stereotypical ‘nerdy’ male huddled in a dark basement somewhere, so we still seem to be operating under the unfortunate delusion that IT is a man’s world.

A self-perpetuating perception of IT
Admittedly, for as long as women choose not to enter the profession, there will always be a barrier in terms of perception. If only men work within the sector, the IT industry will be viewed as a male-dominated environment. The issue is, this perception is self-perpetuating.
Women and men both have the same skills which enable them to shine in the technology arena. Analytical, methodical people work alongside creatives to produce fantastic results in software development, hardware manufacture and sales. The IT industry is a cosmos in itself, requiring people with skills in HR, design, linguistics, analysis and manufacturing. Because of this, it is self-evident that the industry itself is not precluding one gender, as there is absolute equality across the range of skills required. IT Graduate programmes seek males and females equally.

Breaking through the stereotypes to shine
Given all this, it seems that the only thing standing in the way of women entering the industry and shining is the actual motivation to join the ranks of IT professionals. The more women decide to choose this lucrative and rewarding career path, the more the traditional stereotypes associated with the industry can be broken down, and women can take their rightful place at the forefront of cutting-edge IT development and services.


Guest post provided by Steph Goodman on behalf of MSM Software, who specialises in application development and custom software solutions.
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2 comments
I'm not sure this story is entirely correct. I've been in IT for 12+ years and I see more women in the industry now than I did 10 years ago. This story is a very high level broad opinion piece with little in the way of the true depths of why women aren't in IT and it is partially playing a blame game. In my career I've never once had an issue getting a job based on my sex. Often I have been the only female in the IT department, but other times there have been several of us. I really don't think this story does females in IT any favours as it feels like it's just playing the blame game without giving any real insight; which is actually very disappointing to see.
Posted by Donna, Date 18 October 2011, 04:17 PM
Hi Donna, Thank you comment. We are happy to have another women's opinion who works within the I.T industry. Our article was written through research and polls into women within the I.T industry - which is how our article was written. The fact that you are challenging this is a great sign that the industry will/is changing however our primary and secondary research suggested that it is still dominated by a male audience. Once again, thank you for your comment.
Posted by Steph Goodman, Date 19 October 2011, 09:17 AM
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