Business Commons^™

Early Determinants Of Women In The It Workforce: A Model Of Girls’ Career Choices, Monica Adya, Kate Kaiser

Monica Adya

Purpose – To develop a testable model for girls’ career choices in technology fields based on past research and hypotheses about the future of the information technology (IT) workforce.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Review and assimilation of literature from education, psychology, sociology, computer science, IT, and business in a model that identifies factors that can potentially influence a girl’s choice towards or against IT careers. The factors are categorized into social factors (family, peers, and media), structural factors (computer use, teacher/counselor influence, same sex versus coeducational schools), and individual differences. The impact of culture on these various factors is also explored.

Findings …

Workforce Diversity In The It Profession: Recognizing And Resolving The Shortage Of Women And Minority Employees, Mike Gallivan, Monica Adya, Manju Ahuja, Peter Hoonakker, Amy Woszczynski

Monica Adya

There is growing evidence of another impending skills shortage of IT professionals, with a significant contributor being the underrepresentation of women and minorities in the IT workforce (Office of Technology Policy, 1999; Freeman & Aspray, 1999). There are claims that if minorities and women were included in the IT workforce at rates close to their representation in the general population, this shortage could be ameliorated or resolved entirely. Moreover, achieving a greater representation of women and minority employees in the IT workforce may enhance creativity, performance and product markets (Panteli et al., 2001). Women and minorities are underrepresented in the …