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Women in the IT Sector: Queen Bee and Gender Judo Strategies

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Abstract

Women in IT are a minority and the situation is not improving. Data from Statistics Canada from 1991 to 2011 show the engineering sectors do not count very many women. Thus, it is observed that while Canada has policies on gender equity and women should be considered as having the right to work in any sector, the reality is quite different, as is indicated in Statistics Canada data. We observe a low presence of women in the IT sector, a well-paid sector that should be of interest, and women continue to be employed in traditionally female, often low-paid, occupations. We thus wanted to understand how women in IT deal with their minority status in this sector. What are the main obstacles minority women in the IT sector face in their day-to-day lives? How do they deal with these? Do they use ‘queen bee’ responses to be promoted? What is it in the IT sector that motivates their work? These are all questions that have interested us and the results help us to better understand the causes of women’s low representation in the IT sector. Our research is based on a qualitative approach, with interviews of women in the IT sector in Québec (Canada).

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Notes

  1. https://concertationmtl.ca/ce-que-nous-faisons/concerter-et-connecter/mouvement-montrealais-les-filles-le-code/

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Teluq University, University of Québec, Québec City, Canada

    Valérie Harvey & Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay

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  1. Valérie Harvey
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  2. Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay
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Correspondence to Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay.

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Harvey, V., Tremblay, DG. Women in the IT Sector: Queen Bee and Gender Judo Strategies. Employ Respons Rights J 32, 197–214 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-020-09353-z

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