infoTECH Feature

December 02, 2011

IT Gender Gap Closing but Disparities Remain

Differences between men and women working in the IT field continue to narrow, says IT staffing firm Technisource, but some hiccups persist.

Overall, the gap between the genders in career satisfaction and progression have evened out over the past year, according to the 2011 Technisource Women & Men in Information Technology Report. Based on a survey, the report concluded that the efforts of various groups have had a positive impact on the gender inequalities that have hampered the IT field in the past.

But perhaps not surprisingly, some discrepancies between the genders can still be found.

Only 15 percent of the women polled believe that compensation is equal between men and women. In contrast, 38 percent of men feel the same way, though that figure is down from 46 percent last year.

Just 13 percent of the female IT professionals don’t see a “glass ceiling“ holding back their growth in the field, a figure that’s down 7 points from last year. In contrast, 34 percent of the male IT pros don’t feel there’s any type of ceiling limiting career growth for women in IT.

Among other findings, 84 percent of the female workers surveyed think the IT field could use more women, compared with 67 percent of men. And 28 percent of men believe women have an advantage in IT, while only 16 percent of women feel this way.

Just 18 percent of women and 20 percent of men believe that society encourages young women to study math and science. And 75 percent of female IT pros feel they face a different set of job challenges than do men, while 55 percent of the male workers polled echoed the same sentiment.

But in terms of career satisfaction, men and women weren’t that far apart.

Compensation was chosen as one of the most important factors by 20 percent of women and 28 percent of men, while flexibility was near the top of the list among 21 percent of women and 14 percent of men. But both genders picked the need to be challenged as the number one factor for job satisfaction, specifically 33 percent of women and 34 percent of men.

Men and women were also in near agreement on the most critical factors for achieving success in their field, naming technical skills, relationships, and industry knowledge as more important than experience.

“It is very encouraging to see so many of the differing factors of how men and women view employment within the technology field starting to stabilize and reach equal levels,” said Alisia Genzler, a vice president with Technisource. “Yet, there is still a battle for perception of equality around compensation and the greater societal issue of promoting IT as a career path for young women. In the end, employers need to recognize that both men and women are not only looking to be fairly compensated, but also desire to be mentored and challenged in their career.”

Surveys like this are always revealing yet ultimately inconclusive because they leave open the question of how much is based on reality and how much on perception. In future surveys, I’d like to see the respondents asked for specific examples or situations that they’ve experienced to accompany their opinions.

Still, perception can often have more of an impact than reality. Despite the progress made by women working in the IT field, it’s disheartening to see that many still feel unfairly compensated or limited in their careers. Progress always takes time, but let’s hope to see more gains and positive perceptions when next year’s survey is conducted.

The study compared data from this year with data from last year. The October 2011 Women & Men in Information Technology Workforce survey was conducted online in the U.S. by Monster on behalf of Technisource. This data was collected between September 21 and October 3 and targeted 526 IT workers. The 2010 data was collected between September 23 and October 1 of last year and reached 506 workers.



Lance Whitney is a journalist, IT consultant, and Web Developer with almost 20 years of experience in the IT world. To read more of Lance's articles, please visit his columnist page

Edited by Jennifer Russell
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