Women in IT: The Long Climb To the Top

摘要

Meg McCarthy remembers there being a quiet unease about women taking on high-level positions at the former Andersen Consulting when she began her IT career in 1980. There was always a concern whether women could balance work and home. But her view was always that she's going to work harder than anybody else, says McCarthy. That singular focus on success helped McCarthy gain partner status at Andersen and then attain CIO positions at health care organizations. Women in senior IT jobs are more likely to be in management than men are: 36.9% of female IT leaders hold management jobs, compared with 19% of male IT leaders, according to the Anita Borg Institute, a nonprofit group that works to increase the impact of women in technology. Researchers blame the midcareer departures most often on the feeling of being left out of the predominantly male IT department culture, a lack of mentors, work/life imbalance and little access to the same types of networks that men enjoy.