Decreasing of Female Workforce in the Information Technology (IT) Industry

Declining of female workers in the IT industry

ULLAH

IIUM Students’ Perception on the Decreasing of Female Workforce

in the

Information Technology (IT) Industry

Nurliyana Binti Amdan (0928046)

Kulliyyah of Information, Communications and Technology

International Islamic University Malaysia

Instructor: Ms. Masyitah Binti Abd Rahim

English for Academic Writing

Section 11

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01st May 2013

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research paper is to examine the

problems of the lack participation and contribution of female

in the IT industry and also solutions that can be taken to

overcome this issue. The methodology of this study was

quantitative data that involving the use of questionnaires

distributed to the respondents. This study was focused to

figure out the two research objectives namely what were the

IIUM students’ perceptions on the issue on declining of the

female workforce in the IT industry. A common perception about

university female students especially those who majoring in

ICT, they have to be good at computer programming, mathematics,

networking, using several of software, should be a creative

mind person and many more. Moreover, some of them think that

the biggest problem that they have to face in order to survive

in this IT industry is by compete with the male workers who are

the main gender that monopoly the IT industry. Therefore,

because of this perception and reason many female workers

decide not to remain long in the IT industry. Furthermore, in

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Malaysia now the IT industry is not strong enough compared to

the IT industry in other countries.

Keywords: female workers, IT industry, perception

INTRODUCTION

Writing development has started about 3000 BC by the

Sumerians in Mesopotamia. Since then, humans have been started

to store, retrieve, manipulate and exchange information. Based

on the storage and processing technology employed, it is

possible to distinguish that there are four distinct phases of

IT development. The phases are pre-mechanical (3000 BC –

1450 AD), mechanical (1450–1840), electromechanical (1840–1940)

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and electronic (1940-present). The term ‘information

technology’ has been introduced by two writers of Harvard

Business Review in 1958.

Information technology (IT) refers to the application of

computers, internet and telecommunications that is used to

store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, and mostly being

used in the context of a business management or other

enterprises. The term IT is commonly used as a synonym for

computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other

information distribution technologies such as televisions,

radios and telephones. Nowadays, Information Technology (IT)

industry is considered as one of the most important economic

sectors for the government. There are many different types of

information industries, and many different ways to classify

them. However, whenever the term ‘information industry’ is

mentioned, most people will know that the industry is something

that is related to software engineering, computer programming,

system design, telecommunications, multimedia, and many more.

Over the past few years, there has been an increasing

emphasis on female workforce with the information and

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_equipment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer


communication technology in the development sector. Large

government sectors, NGOs and the private sector believe females

could play a big role in resolving poverty and making

development gains through ICT (Raftree, 2012). However, the

issue of women’s under-representation in information

technology, whether in school, higher education, or industry,

has been questioned for many years even though we know that the

use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has

been increased significantly day by day. It has also become an

issue of great public and political concern in many countries

though most notably in the UK, US and Australia (Rowan, Knobel,

Bigum & Lankshear, 2002). Nevertheless, the number of women who

majoring in computer science and engineering is significantly

smaller than the number of men. In fact, from the mid 1980s,

the percentage of women professionals in computer science and

engineering has actually decreased (Berg, 2008).

The purpose of this research paper is to examine the

problems of the lack participation and contribution of female

in the IT industry especially for those who graduated from the

IT major. Therefore, this research has led to the following

research objectives (RO):

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development-professionals-network/technology


1. To find out the possible reasons why this issue is

being mentioned every year.

2. To find possible solutions that we can take in order to

resolve or stabilize the problem for the sake of the

industry.

Within the research paper, Ramsey and McCorduck emphasize

that over several decades ago, a disparity between women and

men has persisted in the recruitment and retention of women at

all levels of information technology (IT), from girls’

experience in schools, to the initial selection women make as

undergraduate majors, to the absence of women in the highest

corporate and academic positions. But what was once only

disturbing has now become a crisis, as the proportion of women

in IT has dropped from 40 percent of the IT workforce in 1986

to about 29 percent at the end of 1999 and is still dropping.

For a number of reasons, this would be problem enough, but

external events are also forcing the crisis.

According to Huyer (2006), although the gender

disaggregated data are not gathered systematically and is often

unreliable, it is clearly shown that women’s access to IT in

the developing countries or developed countries is still much

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lower than men’s. For example, in Ethiopia itself, men have

make up 86 percent of Internet users; in Senegal, 83 percent;

in China, 70 percent; in France, 67 percent; and Latin America,

62 percent. Rates of access to the Internet for women range is

less than 1 percent to over 40 percent in Mexico, Brazil,

Philippines, and South Africa. However, these numbers can be

misleading, since the percentage of internet users overall in

those countries is often around 1 percent of the total

population (with the exception of Brazil and China), and the

only indicators available are of Internet use, which is not the

same as women’s access to IT (Gajjala, 2007; Osted, 2006). But,

the usage of internet by women in almost of the developing

countries are not shows it as a whole, but as a small, educated

urban elite who have computer and Internet access at their

place of work. One reason that can be inferred is because of

the cultural and attitudinal barriers, such as perceptions

about the role and status of women, exist across countries,

despite widely different circumstances. In some societies these

barriers are almost insuperable for women.

Arquay Harris, the Director of Engineering for CBS

Interactive (TechRepublic’s parent company) (2010), once said:

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“I think that more women aren’t developers because, from a

young age, they are not encouraged to pursue the subjects

that would allow them to succeed in those roles. The key

to being a strong developer is having strong analytical

skills. Mathematics and Science are both areas that foster

development in those areas and research have shown that

those tend to be more male dominated fields. I also think

that engineering can be an intimidating profession because

there is the perception that it is ‘too hard’ or something

that boys do.”

From the above statement, it can be said that parents also

played a major role in the development of women’s thinking and

lifestyle. In some countries, parents do not really allow their

daughters to be involved into something that require them to

compete with men.

Basically, from all the researches and observations that

have been conducted before, it clearly shown that there are

many factors that led to the decreasing of women’s workforce in

IT industry. Because of these factors, many solutions should be

made in order to stabilize this issue so that it will not

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affect the country greatly. There are no rules that state women

cannot be involved in the IT job scope. Women should be more

active in contributing and participating in the IT industry.

METHODOLOGY

This section discusses the methodology part of the

research. The main purpose for this research report is to

figure out the IIUM Students’ Perception on the Decreasing of

Female Workforce in Information Technology (IT) industry. It

will look at how this issue has affected the work industry

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especially the IT industry. Data for the research was collected

through questionnaires survey.

Sample

For this research, a sample of 31 respondents was used

which comprised of undergraduate students of International

Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) who are currently taking

majors offered in the Gombak campus such as ICT, ENMS, ENGIN,

AED, EDUCATION, LAW and CELPAD. The 31 respondents were

selected from the students who answered the questionnaires

which were posted through the social networking site, Facebook.

There was no restriction either male or female students can

answer the questionnaires since the issue about the female

workforce declining in the IT industry can be viewed from both

genders’ perspectives.

Research Instrument

This research utilized the use of quantitative research

methodology. The instrument used to collect the data was

questionnaires. A set of questionnaires which consisted of 13

items was created. Different question-types were used in the

questionnaire such as yes or no question, listing or choice

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question, close-ended question and open-ended question. There

were two different sections in the questionnaire which are; i)

demographic information, ii) student's choices. The aim of the

questionnaires was to investigate the perception of IIUM

students’ about the declining of female workforce in the IT

industry.

Research Procedure

Before the questionnaires were distributed to the

respondents, the questionnaires were assessed and evaluated

first by Miss Masyitah Abd Rahim, the lecturer of English for

Academic Writing (LE 4000). After some changes were made by the

lecturer, a study was conducted to assess the validity of the

research instrument. A pilot study was performed before the

distribution of the survey. The main medium that has been used

in order to distribute the questionnaires survey was through

the social networks such as Facebook by using the online survey

form generated by Google doc. During the research, a total of

31 respondents answered the questionnaires. The data collection

period took about two days to complete.

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The reason why the questionnaires were distributed through

the online survey form is because this research focused on all

the students in International Islamic University Malaysia

(IIUM). Because of that, it is really difficult to distribute

the questionnaires survey by hand to the students since this

university is large and it will consume more time for the

student to fill in the form and submit it back. Therefore, it

was decided that the questionnaires should be distributed

through the social networking sites such as Facebook since IIUM

students themselves have their own Facebook page which is the

IIUM Online page. In that Facebook page, there are thousands of

IIUM students who have joined it and by posting the

questionnaires on that page, it will make more students

participate as the respondents in a convenient way without

consuming too much time.

Data Analysis

This research gathered the result by using quantitative

data. Therefore, descriptive statistics was used in analyzing

the data and as the research instrument used in collecting the

data was questionnaire, it made it easier for the data to be

quantified. In descriptive statistics, frequencies such as

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percentages and graphs were used in describing the data as they

showed the differences such as the most selected answer and the

least selected answer which helped in examining the perception

of IIUM students’ on the issue of declining female workforce in

the IT industry. As the questionnaires were created using the

Google Docs, once the respondent have answered the questions,

Google Docs will automatically retrieved the data and summarize

each of the questions which were answered with the statistical

graphs representation or by percentage.

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RESULTS

This section will discuss the result of the research on

the IIUM students’ perception on the decreasing of female

workforce in the IT industry. The findings will be divided into

important topics that have been found from the questionnaires

survey that have been received from a total of 31 IIUM students

as the respondents. The data generated are than analyzed by

using Microsoft Office Word 2007. Questionnaires are

administered in order to gain the insight into the issue of the

female workforce declining in the IT industry. The results are

then presented in bar charts or pie charts by using percentage.

Findings

The first comparison was made whether the respondents

(IIUM students) knows or not about the fact that there are more

male workers than female workers in the IT industry since long

years back. And from the data that have been collected, 27 of

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the respondents (87 percents) answered that they know about

this fact and agreed about it. While, the remaining 4

respondents (13 percents) answered that they did not know about

this fact.

From the figure above, it shows that most of the respondents

knew about the declining of female workforce in the IT industry

which has already started since a few years ago and still

occurred until now. Therefore, it can be said that the issue of

female workforce declining in the IT industry is an issue that

should be considered more seriously and what kind of solutions

that can be use in order to overcome this issue.

Meanwhile, for the second comparison, the question asked

the opinion of the respondents whether women should work in

other industries instead of the IT industry. The result for

this question is shown in the figure below.

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Figure 1


As the figure above shown, it is clear that the respondents

think women should be involved in the IT industry. Most of the

respondents which represents 20 respondents out of 31

respondents (65 percents) did not agree that female should work

in other industries rather than the IT industry. While, the

remaining 11 respondents (35 percents) have agreed that female

should work in other industries rather than the IT industry.

From the result, it can be said that women and men should have

equal numbers in the IT industries as the balancing between

both genders can actually affect the industry.

For the third comparison, the question focused on the

respondents who answered female should work in other industries

rather than the IT industry. There were 11 respondents out of

the 31 respondents who answered that female should work in

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Figure 2


other industries rather than the IT industry. The respondents

can choose more than one industry that they think is suitable

for women to work in rather than the IT industry. The result is

shown in figure 3.

From figure 3, it clear that the respondents choose Education

and Hospitality as the right industries for women rather than

the IT industry. All the 11 respondents (100 percents) have

chosen Education and Hospitality industry as the most suitable

industries for women. While, the second industry that was

considered suitable for women to work in is the Secretarial

industry as 10 respondents (91 percents) choose that industry.

Another industry that was chosen as the suitable industry for

female to work in was the Business Management industry. Around

9 respondents (82 percents) choose the Business Management

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Figure 3


industry as better than the IT industry for women. Meanwhile,

there was one respondent who chose Automotive and Other

industry as the suitable industry for the women to work in

rather than the IT industry. The other industry that the

respondent chose was the Clothing industry.

The next comparison was about the factors that the

respondents think might lead to the declining of female

workforce in the IT industry. For this question, respondents

can choose more than one factor. From this question, it can be

figured out what kind of factors that might lead to the

declining of the female workforce in the IT industry. The

results can be viewed at the figure below.

The result above shows that most of the respondents (28

percents) selected the factor that female prefers more

theoretical things rather than practical things. In the IT

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Figure 4


industry, having a good practical skills is very important as

the industry is focusing more to the practical things such as

programming, database entry, software testing and many more.

From the figure above, 20 respondents (24 percents) chose the

first factor; the competitiveness with the male workers that

they have to face in the industry as one of the factors that

might lead to the declining of the female workforce in the IT

industry. 10 respondents (12 percents) chose the second factor;

women do not have a strong analytical (eg: mathematics) skill

as one of the factors that lead to the declining women

workforce. While, there were 15 respondents (18 percents) who

chose the women do not like a complicated work life as one of

the factors. For the last factor which was women prefer to be

housewives after they got married, there were 14 respondents

(17 percents) who chose that factor. From the result, it can be

stated that there are many factors that lead to the declining

of female workforce in the IT industry.

For the last question, it was about the opinion of the

respondents on what kind of solution(s) can they suggest to

overcome the issue of decreasing of female workforce in the IT

industry. Some of the opinions were provide more training for

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female so that they are competent with IT skills, implement

home office system where female can work at home while taking

care of their family, give more exposure regarding the IT

industry by giving talks or organizing career fair for school

pupils, give more chances and opportunities for female

graduates to be involved in IT, female should be exposed to

careers in IT world so that they can know what they can do in

the future because sometimes female students are clueless about

the IT industry and they do not know where they can know about

the IT industries and many more opinions.

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DISCUSSION

Discussion

This section discuss about the IIUM Students’ Perception

on the Decreasing of Female Workforce in Information Technology

(IT) industry. The results of this research show that most of

the IIUM students know and are aware about this issue.

Based on the results from the survey, it can be deduced

that most of the respondents gave a good respond to this

research paper. From the responses, there is an indication that

the issue of female workforce declining in the IT industry is

not new to the public. This issue has already appeared since

many years ago as it inline with Berg (2008) research that from

the mid 1980s, the percentage of female professionals in

computer science and engineering has actually decreased. This

research paper also has the same findings as the Ramsey and

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McCorduck (2006) studies. From their studies, it have been

stated; “But what was once only disturbing has now become a

crisis, as the proportion of female in IT has dropped from 40

percent of the IT workforce in 1986 to about 29 percent at the

end of 1999 and is still dropping. For a number of reasons,

this would be problematic enough, but external events are also

forcing the crisis.”

Some of the respondents who chose that one of the factors

that lead to the declining of female workforce in the IT

industry is that female do not have a strong analytical skill.

This factor have the same meaning with the speech that Arquay

Harris, the Director of Engineering for the CBS Interactive

(TechRepublic’s parent company) (2010) said;

“I think that more female aren’t developers because, from a

young age, they are not encouraged to pursue the subjects that

would allow them to succeed in those roles. The key to being a

strong developer is having strong analytical skills.

Mathematics and Science are both areas that foster development

in those areas and research have shown that those tend to be

more male dominated fields. I also think that engineering can

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be an intimidating profession because there is the perception

that it is ‘too hard’ or something that boys do.”

Conclusion

This research gives an insight about the perception of

IIUM students about the declining of female workforce in the IT

industry. Primary data was collected and generated by using

Google Docs and was distributed online through social network

site Facebook. 31 IIUM students participated in the

questionnaires survey. As mentioned earlier in the

introduction, the purpose of this study is to figure out the

IIUM students’ perception on the decreasing of female workforce

in the IT industry.

In conclusion, the issue of female workforce declining in

the IT industry is not a new issue. It is an old issue that

still cannot be resolved until now. Many solutions have been

suggested but the result is still the same. This issue is not

happening only in Malaysia but it is happening throughout the

world as IT industry is becoming bigger day by day. From the

research studies that have been done by other researchers, this

issue can be a big issue to the countries involved as the

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imbalance between the male and female in the IT industry really

makes a big difference in terms of its achievement. Both female

and male workers should be treated fairly without any

discrimination in the IT industry or any other industries.

There should be a lot more of solutions can be used in order to

overcome this issue before its worse.

Limitations of the study

As the study was done using a limited number of

respondents in terms of the sample used and the method for data

collection, the study may not have a high reliability and it

may not reflect the perceptions and views of all the university

students in Malaysia. Thus, due to this limitation, this

research can be improved in the future by changing the methods

that have been used by this research such as increasing the

number of respondents, changing the sample population by

choosing students from all universities and colleges in

Malaysia or changing the type of research by using qualitative

research such as in-depth interview or focus on the selected

group of people. Thus, by changing the methods used it can lead

to different results of the study. In addition, by changing the

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purpose and objective of the study it can also direct the

researcher to collecting different data and findings.

REFERENCES

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Rowan, L., Knobel, M., Bigum, C., Lankshear, C. (2002). Boys,

literacies and schooling: The dangerous territories of gender-based literacy

reform. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Berg (2006). Getting more women into computer science and engineering.

Edinburgh, Scotland: Strategies of Inclusion: Gender and the

Information Society (SIGIS) Press.

Ramsey, McCorduck (2006). Where are the Women in Information Technology.

Journal of National Center for Women & Information Technology

University of Colorado, Boulder.

Miliszewska, I. (2006). Gender bias in computer courses in Australia. In

E. M. Trauth (Ed.), Encyclopedia of gender and information technology (pp.

501-506). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference

Miliszewska, I., & Sztendur, E. M. (2009). Girls from low socio-economic

backgrounds: Factors influencing their interest in ICT study and career.

Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), San

Francisco, USA. Electronic proceedings, paper 412.

Gajjala, Radhika. (2007). “Cyberfeminist technological practices: Exploring

possibilities for a women-centered design of technological environments.”

Background Paper prepared for the INSTRAW Virtual Seminars

Osted, Denise. (2006). “Getting Women Online: Experience. ” Womenspace.

Winter Press.

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APPENDIX

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Decreasing of Female Workforce in the Information Technology (IT) Industry

Documents

Transcript of Decreasing of Female Workforce in the Information Technology (IT) Industry