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Tech women meet
to discuss career challenges
Women IT pros at mid-career face a variety of gender related barriers. Some companies are looking with real concern at this critical point in the careers of their female techies
 Last September a group of women technical pros met in Boston, MA to network. Their aim was to learn about and discuss an important study from the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI, www.anitaborg.org): “Climbing the technical ladder: obstacles and solutions for mid-level women in technology.” The event was organized by Computer Associates Inc (CA, Islandia, NY). One of CA’s U.S. development centers is located in Framingham, MA.
Missing out on diversity
At the event, ABI president and CEO Telle Whitney detailed the results of the study, which shows that women in technical careers are still underrepresented in the top ranks of their companies. “Diversity fuels innovation and creativity, and supports companies’ business objectives,” Whitney pointed out, and this underrepresentation robs companies of the benefits of gender diversity.
Reporting the problem
 Women and men from seven technology-focused companies were interviewed for the ABI study. They told researchers that a number of factors converge to stall their careers at mid-level.
Women are more likely than men to perceive the workplace as competitive, and to feel that “connections to power and influence” are needed for career advancement. The majority of men, on the other hand, feel that merit is the driver of career success.
More mid-level women than men think that they must work extended hours to be successful. Women who can’t work late on a regular basis say their careers have suffered. Both men and women agree that mentoring is important, but not sufficiently supported by most technology-focused companies.
The value of teams?
Both men and women say they value teamwork, but women see more competition than cooperation on their companies’ teams, especially when employees are being reviewed for promotion.
And women still struggle with conflicts between work and family responsibilities. While both men and women describe themselves as “family-oriented,” mid-level women’s lives are more directly impacted by the perceived conflict.
Most mid-level technical men and women who are parents have young children at home. But women’s partners are twice as likely as men’s to have fulltime jobs of their own, and only a quarter of women technical pros report that their partners take the primary responsibility for household and children.
Women are twice as likely as men to delay or forgo having children, and more likely to avoid marrying or entering into a long-term relationship with a partner, in order to advance their careers. “The perception at many firms is still that it’s ‘culture versus family,’” Whitney noted.
What to do
 The report has several recommendations for companies that want to remove some of these barriers and help their technical women move up the ladder and into leadership positions. “It’s not ABI’s role to tell any company what it has to do,” Whitney emphasized, but several specific actions were cited in the report.
Professional development, on company time and with full support of management, is a primary recommendation. Flexibility in work hours and places is another, including part-time arrangements without a “mommy track” stigma. Educating managers on gender issues in the workplace, and developing a diverse leadership team and board of directors, can also help.
Mentoring and flexibility
The report points to mentoring as a good way to support technical women. But mentoring, whether formal or informal, must be encouraged and rewarded by the company. The most effective programs are ones where senior executives participate.
Lively discussion
As Whitney concluded her presentation, the issue of job flexibility sparked some of the liveliest discussion among attendees. Computer Associates was represented by several of its top technical women, among them Judy Kruntorad and Anjali Arora, both VPs of software engineering. CA clients were invited to send their own technical women, and several did, including Travelers Insurance and Tufts Health Plan.
Discussion of today’s “always connected” world of BlackBerries and laptops turned into an exploration of how accessibility to co-workers can contribute to flexibility. “Accessibility is both a blessing and a curse,” said one attendee, “but it lets me take responsibility for my own work-life balance and get my work done by deadline. It can be challenging, but I appreciate the opportunity to make choices. I find that flexibility works.”
Bringing girls into IT
Whitney noted a consistent twenty-year drop in the number of women enrolled in undergraduate college computer science, from a high of 37 percent in 1984 to only 24 percent twenty years later. “Frankly, that scares me,” she said. To help the situation, ABI is working with the Computer Science Teachers Association, the Girl Scouts and others to introduce girls to CS as early as kindergarten. “Teachers influence career choices,” Whitney noted.
Several attendees talked about the importance of outreach to youngsters. They detailed their own and their companies’ efforts to show girls and young women the excitement of technical careers. “Eight to ten of the fastest-growing job categories have an IT component,” commented one attendee. “Do today’s kids realize that?”
Working in the community
“The role of women in IT is an important topic,” said Anne Marie Agnelli, CA’s VP of communications, at the conclusion of the event. That’s why CA partnered with ABI to bring the topic to the forefront and “help make a difference in our communities.”
D/C
Kate Colborn
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