Perspectives on challenges facing women in IS: the cognitive gender gap

Abstract

The persistently low number of women in the information systems (IS) field has led to numerous inquiries about barriers women might face to entry and advancement in the profession. Because IS has traditionally been male dominated, masculine values tend to predominate in the profession. In the current study, same sex focus groups of male and female managers discussed challenges women in IS face that their male colleagues might not. By simultaneously analyzing the perceptions of male and female IS managers, we identified areas of overlap and divergence in the concepts as well as in the linkages between the concepts. Although the men and women's maps shared 10 concepts, none of the linkages between the concepts were the same in the two maps. We thus find that men and women have little cognitive overlap about the challenges that women face. Overall, male participants generally realize that women face a number of challenges associated with female gender role expectations, and more generally challenges they encounter in their workplaces and in the IS field. Their understanding of the challenges, however, appears to be superficial. We call on organizations and the IS profession to devise novel responses and training approaches to promote change in the IS culture.

Keywords:

• IS
• critical theory
• women's challenges in IS
• revealed causal mapping

Notes

1 Typical job tasks for IS managers include managing (1) the portfolio of IS applications; (2) IS technology; (3) IS application development; (4) the IS function; and (5) IS-organizational relationships (Gray et al., 1994) as well as managing personnel.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margaret F Reid

Margaret F. Reid is Professor and Chair of Political Science in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Her current research focuses on gendered workplaces, and complexities involving organizational change. Her research has been published in Sex Roles, Administration & Society, Public Administration Review, American Review of Public Administration, Review of Public Personnel Administration, Urban Affairs Review, State and Local Government Review, Journal of Management Information Systems, Information & Management, and in other outlets.

Myria W Allen

About the authors

Myria W. Allen is a professor of Communication in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Her research primarily focuses on organizational communication, information technology workplaces, and parent–child discussions regarding financial issues. She has published over 30 articles in national and international journals in various fields including communication, public administration, information technology, and management. Many of her articles have explored gender-related issues.

Deborah J Armstrong

Deborah J. Armstrong is an associate professor of Management Information Systems in the College of Business at The Florida State University. Her research interests cover a variety of issues at the intersection of IS personnel and cognition involving the human aspects of technology, change, and learning. Her research has appeared in Management Information Systems Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Communications of the ACM, among others.

Cynthia K Riemenschneider

Cynthia K. Riemenschneider is Associate Professor of Information Systems in the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University. Her publications have appeared in Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, American Review of Public Administration, European Journal of Information Systems, and others. She currently conducts research on IT work force issues, women and minorities in IT, and absorptive capacity.