IT Workforce Project Interview Findings

1
IT Workforce Project Interview Findings

• Susan C. Herring
• with
• James Marken and Sharon Stoerger

Gender and IT Education Conference, Indiana
University, 2007
2
Interviewees

• N168 (F 109, M 59)
• Round 1 136 (87 F, 49 M)
• Round 2 118 (82 F, 36 M)
• Round 3 60 (43 F, 17 M)
• Demographic profile
• UB 18, UIUC 15, IU 31, UM 16, UW 19
• CS 41, Imatics 11, IST 11, LIS 18, MIS 19
• PhD 31, Masters 35, UG 35
• Caucasian 77, Asian 18, AA 2, Other 2
• US 82, non-US 18
• Higher attrition for M, IU, MIS, UG, US
• Generalizations for students overall and broken
  down by gender only

3
Interviewees

• Both female and male interviewees presented
  themselves as successful students (63 v. 65)
  overall, and they agreed that success was
  understanding and good grades
• Most were highly (35 v. 39) or moderately (38
  v. 47) ambitious
• Most were highly (26 v. 22) or moderately (23
  v. 28) confident about their employment
  prospects
• Most were moderately confident in their skills
  (48 v. 50)
• No gender differences in self-efficacy

4
Satisfaction with Program

• Students' overall experience with their programs
  was positive in Rounds 1 and 2, less so in Round
  3
• Men were somewhat more positive in Rounds 1 (54
  v. 64) and 2 (64 v. 73)
• Men were strongly more positive in Round 3 (33
  v. 65)
• Most common reasons for F M dissatisfaction in
  Round 3 were advisors and academic research
• The students' main wish for change was to
  incorporate more practical experiences and less
  theory into the curriculum (12 v. 28)
• Some women also wished for better support (16)
  and better work-life balance (12)
• Some men also wished for more funding (22)

5
Support Factors

• More women than men
• received mentoring from faculty in past year (86
  v. 71) and got what they needed from it (74 v.
  67)
• considered friends important to their
  satisfaction (79 v. 53)
• credited their personal life for helping to
  create a good work-life balance (43 v. 27)
• said they has a poor work-life balance (30 v.
  17)
• More men than women
• felt a sense of belonging in their programs (23
  v. 41)
• belonged to clubs and organizations (49 v. 71),
  including in leadership roles (45 v. 62)
• felt that their personal values matched those of
  their field (43 v. 61)

6
Computer Use

• Men and women described using computers equally
  often (mode 7-10 hrs/days) and primarily for
  communication (26 v. 22)
• Most know how to program (88 v. 97) and know
  the same programming languages
• Still, men reported
• higher levels of computer skill (mode 4 v. 5)
• being more "techie (very techie 13 v. 31)
• Men and women defined "techie" somewhat
  differently
• women placed greater emphasis on understanding
  hardware (19 v. 10) and tinkering (14 v.
  2)
• men placing greater emphasis on passion/
  obsession (17 v. 23) and other (5 v. 21)

7
Gender Equity Issues

• Men more than women
• had been recruited (17 v. 28)
• thought that both men and women were treated
  fairly in their programs (34 v. 47)
• Women were more likely
• to think that women/minorities should be
  recruited (33 v. 11)
• to be aware of specific recruitment/support
  activities by their programs
• to have participated in such activities (81 v.
  57)
• Students tended to say that men are advantaged in
  their IT field (35 v. 31), and expressed a
  somewhat dim view of that (41 v. 27)
• But don't call themselves 'feminists (40 v. 65)

8
Choice of Study Program

• Most students selected their major out of
  interest/enjoyment (52 v. 53)
• Men and women described receiving similar
  gratifications from their IT studies
• creating something useful making a difference
  solving problems overcoming challenges
• Women were much more willing to consider CS/MIS
  (50) than men were willing to consider LIS/IST
  (29) as potential fields of study
• For women, the main reason for not choosing CS or
  MIS was a perceived lack of technical background
  and skills
• Some men commented that LIS and IST were not
  technical enough

9
What Have We Learned?

• More similarities than differences between F and
  M students, but some gender trends
• Most students generally satisfied few attributed
  their problems to gender issues
• Seemed comfortable with the gender status quo
• F and M students have different relationships to
  the technical aspects of IT
• Changing women's understandings about programming
  could increase the number of women in technical
  IT fields
• F students value tech IT fields more than M value
  applied IT fields
• Changing men's (and society's) prejudices toward
  applied, human-centered IT fields could reduce
  gendered hierarchies within IT

10

• Thank you!

Gender and IT Education Conference, Indiana
University, 2007