By Gemma Simpson, 23 January 2007 17:10
NEWS
Women are abandoning techie careers, with many put off by the long-hours culture and lack of flexible working. Currently only 16 per cent of tech workers are women, of which few are in management roles, according to IT industry trade group Intellect.
The female flight from IT may not be a question of sex discrimination but more about poor working conditions, say silicon.com readers, as the IT workers suffer from a lack of flexible working schemes and the threat of losing their jobs dues to offshoring.
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Charles Smith, a consultant from London, pointed out IT workers worry their jobs will be exported and are expected to work long hours of unpaid overtime by myopic management.
Women, readers argue, are simply being more choosy about life-work balance than men - and thus they are leaving the industry.
One reader pointed out that women were "maybe just smarter" for shunning IT careers in favour of "much easier jobs" such as being a doctor, lawyer or accountant.
Others said it was a lack of interest in the subject matter. An anonymous reader said he had tried to encourage women to learn more technical things but "only men seem to want to be technical".
Some female readers said IT has become unattractive due to the 'macho culture' and offensive behaviour of their male colleagues.
Readers said they had to put up with "constant harassment and put-downs" from male counterparts and explained this treatment is "one of the biggest reasons" why women are leaving IT.
One female CTO said having a thick skin is an absolute requirement for a woman looking to enter the IT arena. "I find myself having to prove myself (even after eight years with the company) to engineers and other male counterparts... I have learned to accept it as a challenge to keep myself in tip-top shape and have the good reputation I have. I actually thank them for being the 'jerks' for they keep me ahead of the game," she said.
Whatever the reason women don't like tech jobs, a CTO from Canada said 'good riddance'. "I have absolutely no sympathy for whiners who don't 'make management' when they can't perform the job that's required of them. MEN have been doing it for years," he said.
Comments
There are 9 comments. Join the discussion
1. Peggy A. Rowe
I've been in IT since 1991 and I am female. I've been treated in the most disrespectful manner by tech's who assume I don't know my stuff. And I've battled those long hours, not being paid overtime. I've worked for corporate America, a non-profit, and finally as an independent. The movement being made necessary because while I am doing all this work, I am a single mother of three kids, one with a mental disorder. As a single mom, I needed flexiblity in my job and was forced to take pay cuts, and less pay to get it.
Men may have been doing this for years, but most men are not also saddled with full time responsiblity of children and home on top of work.
So, you men who think it's a great thing that we are leaving. I think the loss is yours, and you have no clue.
I pity your wives.
I'd also think that particular quote should have been left out of the article because it just proves the point of the women and encourages men who are incapable of showing respect to the other sex to keep up their off the wall comments.
Not to mention it makes women angry and more sure that we are doing the right thing. Our families come first, at least mine does. I've still got two at home. My husband works in IT and thank goodness he understands.
But, I still want to tell that guy, "up yours"
2. S. Martin
I commented under the original story, but I wanted to address the woman who felt like she still had to prove herself every day even after 8 years. Yep, that's the nature of the business. I am a male software engineer, and I have to keep proving myself to my company every day even after 21 years in the industry.
The reason is endemic to the industry: Things change every day, innovation, new competition, faster, better, smarter ways to do things are being invented literally every hour of every day in high tech. It doesn't matter whether you are the newest start up or you are Microsoft, you will be forced to prove that you deserve to survive, or you will be left in the dust.
I'm not saying this is good for the employees. On the contrary, it makes for a very high stress environment. I've risen the ranks of management to the upper levels, and today I am an individual contributor by choice. I realized a good many years ago that the merry-go-round will keep going round even if I am not trying to drive it.
Maybe I've finally gotten smart, like my female counterparts.
3. Cat Taylor
Well the REALLY smart women are taking control and BECOMING THE MANAGEMENT by setting up THEIR OWN business within the IT industry - as self employed/freelance, women can fly as high as their ambition allows - and still have time for 'a life' - after serving my time in this very male dominated sector, I did not allow ignorance and sexism to chase me out but saw the perfect solution to inflexible working arrangements, which was to go it alone, after my fourth child was born; I set up my own web/print design and development business which has now split into TWO independent businesses with the recent launch of my new online shop (which my web design company designed and developed) I have FOUR children, a house and a huge dog to juggle (!), working from my home office headquarters means I CALL THE SHOTS plus total freedom, my own comfortable space, no one to hold me back and I didn't have to venture out in the snow to struggle in to work today either! HA!
4. anonymous
I believe intelligent women are simply making the best choice. As previously noted countless times, IT jobs are shifting eastward towards India, because the UK IT industry is increasingly under the control of foreign multinationals who have no particular loyalty to the UK and are simply seeking the cheapest location.
In the past, IT has been able to offer graduates bright prospects despite the lack of a standard professional qualification. Now the bright prospects have gone, why would you recommend your kids to choose an IT career when it's becoming increasingly important to get a professional qualification?
5. Brian Catt
Probably they are too smart, or at least they have the social eptitude lacking in IT geeks. The only reason many guys are in IT is to show how clever they are to people with lives.
The reason Macs were not successful is they looked after themselves and were intuitive to use, so techies hated them as they were taking away the only way they could earn a living and get their own back on the rest of us.
I have been using computers since ACE, writing binary and assembler. I thought one day it would become accessible to normal people, but clearly that was stupid, IT people don't want that as they will lose their power. A Registry is revered token of power to them..
They still manage to write GUI software which appears to be written by mechanistic deterministic uni dimensional beings from the planet Anal.
Maybe one day Bender style geeks will rule the world.
I only use IT now because I have to.
You're better off out of it, ladies.
Leave it to the sad macho machine people.
IMO :-)
6. anonymous
Maybe its not a good industry to work . Does not matter if your male or female.
Smart well if your motivation is more money less hours then this is not the industry to be in anymore.
7. anonymous
The fact is, most women are married and not considered the person responsible for primary income. These women have the choice to leave their line of work and find something new if they don't like their job. As a married man, I have a full time job being a husband and father at home, and a techie 50 hours per week. I don't have the luxury of just quitting my job and finding something else. I need health benefits. I need good money. I need vacation time. My family requires I provide these things. A tech job, no matter how difficult, is the best place to find these things. Women are not too smart for IT, they are given the luxury of being able to move around the work environment as they see fit, while men are mostly forced to follow the gravy train for their family. I'm not complaining; my wife takes care of our home and our children all day long. That is no easy task. I'm asking that women who complain about how difficult things are in the workplace think about what I wrote. It's a man's working world so you don't HAVE to, the way men do. If I had my choice I would be serving drinks on a beach in the tropics. Not working in IT. But I take care of my family, without complaint, like so many men do. And I listen to women who are so easily offended complain about the environment that was created for their best interest. If you are so easily offended by the system, then get out of the system. You can do it because you are a woman. I must stay because I am a man.
8. Satha Arumanayagam
Smart women (and men) do have their place in IT. We all have to live with culture issues of course... as women I started life in accounting then to IT consulting to IT solutions sales to IT sales managment... and now to IT business leaderhsip...
I love the idea of working with smart people and help customers (who are often very smart business people) get the benefit of technology to achieve business success...
Some call it SMART... but I am woman and I love the IT sector....
9. anonymous
Anonymous EE from Austin,
No, you don't have to stay because you're a man whilst women get more flexibility. I posted after the original article that - as a woman who finds the environment limiting both intellectually and personally - I'm planning a way out and cross-training to do so. It's not because I'm a woman that I have the freedom to do so at the expense of the men, it's because I made a decision a long time ago that I didn't want the responsibility of children & so can take the risk with my own future and income.
People who choose to have kids have to have reliable jobs, of course they do. And I appreciate that the social & economic structure of the USA demands possibly more committment in the absence of a decent welfare state.
But I'd like to know how many of the men who are being responsible by putting in 50 hour weeks think that this is the best way to give their children a stable home. And how many of them would offer their wives the opportunity to change place & take over the homemaking themselves? 50 hours a week in an office is still nothing compared to the 24/7 aspect of raising children & maintaining a home. The divorce statistics would be a great deal more positive if this were the case; as it is, I just know that the majority of men on these postings go home after work & proceed to do nothing domestically, even if their wives have worked all day as well.
Men have more of a natural geek / machinery tendency that suits IT than women. No argument there. But why do they have to be so damn unpleasant to those of us girlies who have dared to join them on the techy side of the fence?