Tick-tock sounds different for women working in IT areas

ABSTRACT

Women represent over the half of university graduates in Spain. However, the percentage of women graduating with degrees in Computing and Engineering drops to 23% (European Commission. [2016. She figures. Brussels: Directorate-General for Research and Innovation]). Women are a minority in the workplace in the IT sector, despite it being one of the most dynamic industries with a positive future outlook. Existent literature highlights that women face a variety of barriers that can impede their progress in the workplace, mainly related to work–life conflicts. However, the attempts carried out thus far to improve women’s work–life balance have had little effect in this sector, where the numbers lag behind those of other sectors. The reasons behind those numbers must be understood. In this sense, this study aims to gain a deeper understanding of work/personal lives of women in IT sectors throughout the course of their lives. The results obtained from a tailor-made survey in Spain show that women working in IT are very work-oriented and committed to their careers and have fewer conflicts regarding work–life balance than was expected. It was in fact age, income and perception of gender discrimination that stood out as significant variables that may explain the difficulties encountered. In light of this, flexible work policies are not enough to increase the number of women in IT, and we suggest actions that could serve to fight stereotypes regarding gender and age in the workplace.

RESUMEN

Las mujeres representan más de la mitad de las tituladas universitarias en España. Sin embargo, el porcentaje de mujeres graduadas en informática e ingeniería desciende hasta el 23% (EU, 2016). Las mujeres son también minoría en el sector de las Tecnologías de la Información (TIC), a pesar de que es uno de los sectores industriales más dinámicos y con mejores perspectivas futuras. La literatura existente destaca que las mujeres se enfrentan a una variedad obstáculos que impiden su progreso profesional, principalmente relacionados con los conflictos para compaginar vida y trabajo. Sin embargo, los intentos realizados hasta ahora para mejorar el equilibrio trabajo-vida de las mujeres han tenido pocos efectos en este sector donde los datos permanecen por detrás de otros sectores. Es por ello que falta comprender las razones que hay detrás de esos números. En este sentido, este estudio pretende comprender con mayor profundidad la vida laboral/personal de las mujeres en los sectores de TIC a lo largo de sus vidas. Los resultados obtenidos a partir de una encuesta realizada a medida en España muestran que las mujeres empleadas en las TIC están altamente orientadas al trabajo y comprometidas con sus carreras, y que presentan menos conflictos de los esperados con la conciliación entre la vida laboral y personal. De hecho, la edad, el ingreso y la percepción de la discriminación de género se destacan como variables significativas que explicarían las dificultades encontradas. A la luz de estos resultados, las políticas orientadas a la flexibilización del trabajo no son suficientes para aumentar el número de mujeres en las TIC y sugerimos acciones orientadas a luchar contra los estereotipos sobre el género y la edad en los puestos de trabajo.

KEYWORDS:

• Work centrality
• gender
• work–life integration
• life course
• IT

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Centralidad del trabajo
• género
• integración vida-trabajo
• ciclo de vida
• TIC

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr Ana M. González Ramos, senior researcher at the IN3 (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC). She received her Sociology degree in 1994 from the University of Granada and her PhD in 2004 from the Department of Statistics and Operations Research at the University of Cádiz. Her work is focused on Gender Studies, and Science and Technology. Among other projects, she has led two national projects on the mobility of highly qualified personnel and scientific careers, emphasizing the structural changes that organizations would have to make to assume a more competitive and inclusive offer. She was a visiting scholar at the University of Costa Rica; PREST, an institute of the University of Manchester; the Institut für HöhereStudien in Vienna and in the Sociology Department of the University of Havana (Cuba), as well as on the Social Services course at the Universidade Católica de Pelotas in Brazil.

She has carried out competitive projects for national and European institutions as well as for the Spanish and Portuguese government. Her lines of research address international mobility, women’s careers, and the science and technology system.

Dr Laura Lamolla, lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Business (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, UOC). She has a PhD in Political Science from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, a CEMS Master in International Management, a degree in Business Administration and an MBA from ESADE Business School. Currently she combines teaching Entrepreneurship and Strategy courses with the management of the degree in Business Administration (BBA). Her research interests are female entrepreneurship, gender in management and work–life balance practices and policies. She has participated in several national and European projects involving these issues.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by ACUP (Catalan Association of Public Universities) and La Caixa Foundation with the RecerCaixa Programme [grant number 2014ACUP00013].