Women Employee Engagement in IT Industry

Information and technology industry is a multibillion-dollar industry. (Casad, B.J., Petzel, Z.W. and Ingalls, E.A., 2019). It is the fastest-growing industry, and it is critical not only to other firms but to everyone's everyday lives. (Comrie-Thomson, L., Gopal, P., Eddy, K., Baguiya, A., Gerlach, N., Sauvé, C. and Portela, A., 2021). For many decades, computer-related occupations, such as programming and development, were dominated by men. (Dye, M.H., Aday, R.H., Farney, L. and Raley, J., 2014). As the sector has grown, there are now more women working in technology who are equally as skilled as their male counterparts. (Grinsztejn, B., Hoagland, B., Moreira, R.I., Kallas, E.G., Madruga, J.V., Goulart, S., Leite, I.C., Freitas, L., Martins, L.M., Torres, T.S. and Vasconcelos, R., 2018). This is a male-dominated industry that is failing to care for its female employee hundreds of female employees have left the sector and never returned as a result of numerous employees' failure to keep them motivated. (Hogue, J.V. and Mills, J.S., 2019). The main two reasons are women feel insecure in a male-dominated workplace and women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts. (Koyuncu, M., Burke, R.J. and Fiksenbaum, L., 2006).

Considering several equality legislation, women are routinely treated less than their compared to men. (Myer, L. and Phillips, T.K., 2017). It is common for a woman to be unable to pay for daycare while continuing to work. (Nair, S.R., 2020). If it is not economically viable, then the position must be lost. (Scott-Baumann, E., 2013). Organizations in the technology sector do not tend to be able or ready to change salaries or facilities in order to retain valued personnel. (World Health Organization, 2019). A male-dominated organization is not equipped to handle gender concerns. (Casad, B.J., Petzel, Z.W. and Ingalls, E.A., 2019). Pregnant women take a lot of time and effort on doctor appointments, prenatal classes, and delivery. (Koyuncu, M., Burke, R.J. and Fiksenbaum, L., 2006). They are indeed eligible for maternity pay. (Dye, M.H., Aday, R.H., Farney, L. and Raley, J., 2014). Women have various non-pregnancy complex integrated those men do not, but pregnancy can cause the greatest problems. Many women discover that they are the first in their workplace to request maternity benefits and that their managers are unsupportive. (Hogue, J.V. and Mills, J.S., 2019). The majority of firm rules and processes do not address pregnancy and other women's difficulties, and employers appeared to be unaware of what is necessary. (World Health Organization, 2019). As a result, even if a woman is capable of negotiating maternal leave, she is still considered to be working from home. (Comrie-Thomson, L., Gopal, P., Eddy, K., Baguiya, A., Gerlach, N., Sauvé, C. and Portela, A., 2021). It's just impossible to balance the demands of a full-time career with being a new mother. (World Health Organization, 2019).

Women in IT have realized that being the only woman on a project is quite common. (Casad, B.J., Petzel, Z.W. and Ingalls, E.A., 2019). Working women are subjected to bias as a result of the lack of support from other female coworkers. (Koyuncu, M., Burke, R.J. and Fiksenbaum, L., 2006). It could also be based on sexual orientation, age, culture, or physical attractiveness. (Casad, B.J., Petzel, Z.W. and Ingalls, E.A., 2019). Because they lack a network of friends or perhaps even a platform to adequately seek, several women suffer in silence until it becomes unbearable. (Nair, S.R., 2020).

The extra responsibilities of guardianship highlight how difficult their employment condition is. This is only the beginning. (Dye, M.H., Aday, R.H., Farney, L. and Raley, J., 2014). To ensure that this issue is resolved, IT companies' mentality must change. (Hogue, J.V. and Mills, J.S., 2019).Women are also well as men in this field, and losing their competence is an economic shock to any organization. (Nair, S.R., 2020). Employees’ perceptions must be evaluated, and effective measures and services must be offered.(Comrie-Thomson, L., Gopal, P., Eddy, K., Baguiya, A., Gerlach, N., Sauvé, C. and Portela, A., 2021).  According to research, there is no scarcity of young ladies interested in math and science. Many young women are interested in pursuing jobs in IT industry. (Nair, S.R., 2020). Unfortunately, until the working climate changes, individuals would be forced to leave their respective positions in search of a more welcoming setting and Organizations strive to maintain their female employees motivated. (Hogue, J.V. and Mills, J.S., 2019).

Figure 1 : Female employees in the workforce of tech companies

(Source: World Economic Forum, 2016)

The above figure shows women employee engagement in the technical or IT industry and non-IT industry in reputed companies in Silicon Valley. According to the Worldwide forum, women in IT industry is lower than women in non-IT industries. As shown in the above figure, Apple has the highest proportion of female employees in tech roles, however, this figure is still only 20%. At Twitter, only 10% of tech positions are filled by women. 

In my organization, there is always equity and equality for both men and women engaged in software projects. Furthermore, there are more female employees engaged in software projects than male employees and do successful project deliveries. Therefore it  is not a different way to measure gender rivalry in the IT industry.

International Girls in ICT Day, women perceive the ICT sector as male-dominated, which discourages them from entering the area. However, encouraging more women to pursue careers in ICT could assist to shift this view and enable more women to become industry leaders. The Girls in ICT project claims that "not only are jobs in the ICT sector moving women out of poverty, but a more gender-balanced sector offers meaningful and high-level careers, and enables highly bright women to leap to the top of the professional ladder. Employing women and girls in the ICT sector is not simply the right thing to do from a social justice standpoint. It's also good business sense.

References

Casad, B.J., Petzel, Z.W. and Ingalls, E.A., 2019. A model of threatening academic environments predicts women STEM majors’ self-esteem and engagement in STEM. Sex Roles, 80(7), pp.469-488.

Comrie-Thomson, L., Gopal, P., Eddy, K., Baguiya, A., Gerlach, N., Sauvé, C. and Portela, A., 2021. How do women, men, and health providers perceive interventions to influence men's engagement in maternal and newborn health? A qualitative evidence synthesis. Social Science & Medicine, 291, p.114475.

Dye, M.H., Aday, R.H., Farney, L. and Raley, J., 2014. “The Rock I Cling To” Religious Engagement in the Lives of Life-Sentenced Women. The Prison Journal, 94(3), pp.388-408.

Grinsztejn, B., Hoagland, B., Moreira, R.I., Kallas, E.G., Madruga, J.V., Goulart, S., Leite, I.C., Freitas, L., Martins, L.M., Torres, T.S. and Vasconcelos, R., 2018. Retention, engagement, and adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis for men who have sex with men and transgender women in PrEP Brasil: 48 week results of a demonstration study. The lancet HIV, 5(3), pp.e136-e145.

Hogue, J.V. and Mills, J.S., 2019. The effects of active social media engagement with peers on body image in young women. Body image, 28, pp.1-5.

Koyuncu, M., Burke, R.J. and Fiksenbaum, L., 2006. Work engagement among women managers and professionals in a Turkish bank: Potential antecedents and consequences. Equal Opportunities International.

Myer, L. and Phillips, T.K., 2017. Beyond “Option B+”: understanding antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, retention in care and engagement in ART services among pregnant and postpartum women initiating therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 75, pp.S115-S122.

Nair, S.R., 2020. The link between women entrepreneurship, innovation and stakeholder engagement: A review. Journal of Business Research, 119, pp.283-290.

Scott-Baumann, E., 2013. Forms of engagement: Women, poetry and culture 1640-1680. OUP Oxford.

World Health Organization, 2019. Translating community research into global policy reform for national action: a checklist for community engagement to implement the WHO consolidated guideline on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women living with HIV.