Listen to CBC Metro Morning interview here.
TORONTO, November 25, 2004 -- According to York University researcher Krista Scott-Dixon, women IT workers have run up against a new kind of old boys club.
“IT was supposed to be a radically new form of work,” says Scott-Dixon. “But the experience has been less than progressive for women.”
Her new book, Doing IT: Women Working in Information Technology, uncovers the tech industry, from its boom in the 90s to present day, as dominated by a “male youth culture.” Scott-Dixon has found that this new status quo keeps gender, race, class, ability and pay inequities firmly in place.
According to Statistics Canada data (2001), the average annual salary of a female engineering manager is about $52,400 – contrasted with about $84,600 for men.
Scott-Dixon conducted extensive interviews with more than 50 women within the sector. By marrying her qualitative interview research with analysis of Statistics Canada data on gender and work, she was able to create a real-world snapshot of women’s role in IT.
“Statistically, women are still the primary caregivers -- so how can they compete? People who can work around the clock get ahead, especially in the IT industry. If you’re a 21-year-old single guy, you can thrive in that kind of environment. The company appears to offer you everything you need, and often these are bizarrely perceived as perks -- free coffee and junk food, fitness facilities, video games for your ‘downtime.’ But these live-work arrangements don’t work for women who have children at home,” Scott-Dixon says.
“One woman I interviewed actually had a cot in the office that she would pull out of a broom closet. Needless to say, she wasn’t a working mom.”
While the image of the ’round-the-clock high tech worker is most readily personified by the poster boys of the bygone dot com era -- “insane hours, guys sleeping and showering at the office,” Scott-Dixon discovered that the rules of engagement at most high-tech companies haven’t fundamentally changed. While women make up a growing percentage of the IT ranks, the expectation of long hours, coupled with lack of childcare, remains.
Scott-Dixon found that the “boys club” extends to companies’ all-important after-hours culture, replacing the golf course with the game cube. “They don’t invite somebody’s mom to play video games. You’re just not part of that culture. And that’s where the networking and career advancement really happens.”
Her research also uncovers a corporate atmosphere that can be extremely toxic to women.
“Two words: Booth bunnies.” The derogatory term is a reference to the good-looking women hired to attract clients at technology trade shows.
“People complain that there are fewer women engineers and developers in the industry,” Scott-Dixon says. ”It’s bizarre how people blame women for a supposed lack of interest in a field that’s hostile to them.”
According to 2001 census data, only about 15% of computer engineers are women. However, women account for approximately 42% of database analysts, 40% of systems testing technicians and 33% of web designers.
Scott-Dixon has found that the majority of technology jobs are moving towards a hybrid or “interdisciplinary” model -- psychology majors working with software staff to design user interfaces, positions that combine technology work with vital editing, publishing and marketing know-how. All offer inroads to North American women who are less likely to pursue education in the traditional IT disciplines: computer science and engineering.
“Unfortunately, the old idea that assuming white guys with glasses and lab coats -- or in this case, jeans and linux t-shirts -- are smarter than everyone else dies hard,” she says.
In addition to teaching a course in women and technology in the Department of Women's Studies, Scott-Dixon, a York staff member and alumnus, applied her web design and programming skills to the university's new Gender & Work database.
York University is the leading interdisciplinary teaching and research university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 180,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 21 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges.
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