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Women in Information Technology:
The Secret Code
In the past century, women have fought for such basics as the right to vote, own land, and
establish credit. In recent decades, women have struggled for a seat at the tables of power and fame- from the tennis courts to corporate boardrooms to the halls of Congress to the space shuttle. Today, the women's movement is in a new, complex phase. Women have slowly ascended to leadership roles in all sectors of the economy; however, each woman who makes it to the top of her field is usually alone once she gets there. Many of the issues for these women are the same, from questions of male domination to secret dialogue, to discrimination to pay inequalities. Because the fields and agendas are so diverse, no one simple, set of answers resonates across the board. It is clear, however, that women will be instrumental in leading corporations to new resolutions. This paper presents a range of perspectives on gender and information technology (IT). The aim is to present some of the major debates and critiques of IT to highlight some important issues of concern for women in leadership rolls.
The IT Industry
IT is a multi-billion dollar industry which is, according to the American Heritage Dictionary (2005) "the development, installation, and implementation of computer systems and applications. The U.S. Department of Commerce identifies the information technology workforce more broadly. In a report on information technology, the Department defines workers in information technology occupations as those who design, manufacture, operate, maintain, and repair information technology products and provide related services across all industries. The men and women in the IT industry have care...
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...2001). A discursive approach to understanding women leaders in working life. Journal of Business Ethics, 34(3/4), 255-267. Retrieved February 9, 2003, from Proquest database.
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In the American society, we constantly hear people make sure they say that a chief executive officer, a racecar driver, or an astronaut is female when they are so because that is not deemed as stereotypically standard. Sheryl Sandberg is the, dare I say it, female chief operating officer of Facebook while Mark Zuckerberg is the chief executive officer. Notice that the word “female” sounds much more natural in front of an executive position, but you would typically not add male in front of an executive position because it is just implied. The fact that most of America and the world makes this distinction shows that there are too few women leaders. In Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In,” she explains why that is and what can be done to change that by discussing women, work, and the will to lead.
The gap between men and women produce three important concepts that reason the difference. First is the discussion of the better leader- men or women? It has been studied that women approach their followers with an interactive style with the encouragement of sharing power and information with others, participation, and self-worthiness to others. On the other hand, men have a consistency to be more task-oriented in their leadership styles and emerge in short-term conditions. The simple claim that women are just different than men, can be argued with the idea that men have effective traits for leadership. Women are less likely to negotiate and as a leader, this leads to lack of communication. And as discussed, leadership’s main ingredient is communication. Without it, nothing gets across to followers, and nothing is reciprocated to leaders. As a leadership position becomes larger and larger, (such as a CEO’s leadership position) there are fewer and fewer women holding these positions. The biggest question is why? Generally, females and males share the leadership values, work equally as hard to accomplish their goals, and react accordingly. Society plays a huge role in the gender gap. Some jobs aren’t even offered to women because of their gender and women
Walker, Henry A., Barbara C. Ilardi, Anne M. McMahon, and Mary L. Fennell. "Gender, Interaction, and Leadership." Social Psychology Quarterly. V59 n3 p255, 1996.
Powell and Graves’s study shows that “the gender gap in leadership is a global phenomenon whereby women are disproportionately concentrated in lower-level and lower-authority leader ship positions compared to men” (as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 399). I couldn’t have agreed more with the statement; I have come across all of people from different aspects of lives. I have noticed that females’ interactions and how they are perceived and or accepted are quite different from males, whether at the workplace, school, in social gathering like religious services, around families and friends, etc. This includes the communication, uncertainty that arises in a professional environment that must do with our
Today, you see women working in large businesses and think nothing of it. Before women had the rights they do today, you wouldn’t see them in large jobs, on television, in movies, or selling and buying property. Women have the rights that they do because of the hard work of many important women, Women’s Rights Conventions, the 19th Amendment, and many other important processes that worked toward women having the same rights as men.
“The history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality,” this was stated by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a very crucial women’s suffragist. Over time, women’s history has evolved due to the fact that women were pushing for equal rights. Women were treated as less than men. They had little to no rights. The Women’s Rights Movement in the 1800’s lead up to the change in women’s rights today. This movement began in 1848 with the Seneca Falls Convention. For the next 72 years, women continually fought for equal rights. In 1920, they gained the right to vote which ended the movement and opened the opportunity for more change in women’s lives. Because of the Women’s Rights Movement, women today are able to vote, receive
This transactional leadership style appears to characterise leadership in tough manly traits, as it is renowned by ‘‘competitiveness, hierarchical authority and high control for the leader and analytical problem solving’’ (Klenke, 1993, p. 330) which is more distinctive of male behaviours. In contrast, women in general fit into a ‘‘feminine model of leadership build around cooperation, collaboration, lower control for the leader and problem solving based on feeling and rationality’’ (Klenke, 1993, p. 330). This style of leadership is closely aligned to transformational leadership with effective leaders being described as those who inspired their followers and enabled them to achieve the goals set by the organisation (Bass, 1985).
The biggest right many women fought for was their right to vote. Men believed that women were too emotional and uneducated. Women then were a lot stronger than the men thought. They “cared for one another in childbirth and sickness…they toiled from sunup to sundown…and tended the ground the men had cleared” with no appreciation by men of the hard work they did (centuryofstruggle). If there were a sense of weakness they would have quit. These women soon found their will power to start the suffrage movement. This wasn’t the first time they organized a group, “it was in the abolition movement that the women first learned to organize [and] hold public meetings.”(centuryofstruggle). “Votes for women were first seriously proposed in the United States in July, 1848 at the Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights convention organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.”(womenshistory). This was the beginning of the struggle for women to become equal to men. “In [the] war, women [were] the most silent victims.” This quote was very true about the women (womenshistory). During the war it was obvious that the men were victims considering that the men had to actually go to war and die for their country but women were still home being treated unkindly all over the world without any choice. “Women took up jobs in factories to support the war as well as taking more act...
Wirth, Linda. “Women in Management: Closer to Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling.” Women, Gender and Work. Ed. Martha Fetherolf Loutfi. Geneva:
Upadhyaya, Preeti, and Lauren Hepler. "Why hiring women may make your business more money."Silicon Valley Business Journal [San Jose] 11 September 2013, n. pag. Web. 13 April 2014.
In the book, Sally Helgesen cites the “Feminine Principles” brought forth by Anita Roddick, who is the founder of The Body Shop as basic principles that could help to distinguish, or rather help to further define men and women leaders. The principles include, caring, making intuitive decisions, not getting hung up on hierarchy, having a sense of work being part of your life, putting labor where your love is, being responsible to the world and knowing that the bottom line should not be the only driving factor. These are the principles that encompass the “feminine principles” within the context of the text. While these principles are broad, they are not exclusive to women, however, women in general exhibit these qualities in more pounced ways than men.
Women have qualities that make them more adaptable to the emotional climate, to handling conflicts, to think about the development of people and their human needs, compassion, care of the planet, commitment and responsibility. Who better than a woman who is prepared to deal with responsibilities in leadership positions with unique features to handle such matters. Female leadership is a model to take into account, a model to support and one which we can expect excellent results in a sustainable and equitable manner for all involved. Every day women face the challenge of reentry into the job market, and being the primary caretaker for their children, compounded with diversity issues and concerns. For these reason it is challenging to be a women with power in leadership.
Warner, Judith. "Women’s Leadership What’s True, What’s False, and Why It Matters." American Progress. Center for American Progress, 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
What is information technology? What does it have to do with me and my career? Fortunately there are many different things that this day and age has that were not even thought about when our parent were children. We are so fortunate that times have changed so the opportunity of meeting new people and saving information. The ability to save a significant amount of information and have it all stored in one spot is like nothing else in this world. Technology has been inferior for a while but is slowly taking a hold on today’s lifestyle, now it seems the world is run by it.
The persistence of the gender gap has been evaluated through the barriers, wage disparity, and discrimination that women endure in these organizations. In evaluating the barriers that women endure, it is displayed that they are left at a disadvantage compared to men, since they do not have the same learning opportunities, and are unable to progress at the same level. Also, in the assessment of the wage gender gap, unfair treatment towards women has led to their value and worth be questioned, eventually obstructing their ability to advance in their organizations. Finally, the analysis of the discrimination that women face in the workplace, has expressed that women are not given the same opportunities as men, which hinders their ability on rising in corporate hierarchy. The opposing argument to the gender gap focuses on gender bias, and recognizes the underrepresentation of women in upper management positions. The gender gap can begin to close if organizations take the initiative to hire more women and encourage their participation in the workforce. Overall, the gender gap in the representation of top management positions does exist in corporate organizations, however these organizations can make a change and bridge the