| This study was designed to explore challenges and factors that determined female career choices in information technology (IT). The study was intended to promote and encourage more females to go into the area of IT. A mixed-method research design was used to provide analysis for the study. The gender gap appears to be quite wide in the IT arena when examining levels of employment. The Information Technology Association of America estimated female workers in the overall IT workforce dropped from 41% to 34.9% between 1996 and 2002 (Quesenberry, J. L., Trauth, E. M., & Morgan, A. J., 2006, "Understanding the "Mommy Tracks": A Framework for Analyzing Work-Family Balance in the IT Workforce, Information Resources Management Journal, 19(2), 37-53). The study participants provided several answers to open-ended questions that were relevant to this study. In some cases, cross-tabulation and chi-square or Kendall's tau tests were used to test relationships between variables. Four social factors and four challenges were investigated in the study. The social factors were role models/mentors, family, peer group, and teachers. The four challenges contributing to reasons why IT is a field dominated by men included risk concerns such as gender, discrimination and unfairness, diversity, and stereotypical beliefs regarding female professional behaviors. Three findings stood out. One of the findings suggested family as a factor that determined career choices for women in the IT arena. The second finding concerned the influence of role models; the third finding suggested job satisfaction plays a major role in the reluctance of women to enter the IT profession. Companies need to find ways to influence and promote more women and to recruit and retain qualified, well-educated women in this time of employee shortage in the IT professions. |
