Individual inequality: Women’s responses in the IT profession

Among the challenges of gender and IT research is the identification of appropriate theories as a basis for understanding the under representation of women in the IT profession. In response to this need, the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT has been proposed by Trauth to focus on women as individuals, having distinct personalities, experiencing a range of socio-cultural influences, and thus exhibiting a range of responses to the social construction of IT. The purpose of this paper is to describe a research project aimed at testing this theory by investigating the particular ways that American female IT professionals are influenced by and react to the social shaping of both gender identity and IT. We begin by providing a brief background of this research project and an overview of the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT. Next we describe the research design and the status of data collection and analysis efforts to date. Finally, we summarize the current results of the research project and illustrate the ways in which the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT is manifested in the core and emerging data themes. In this discussion we demonstrate how the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT can be applied to better understand the issue of female inequality in the IT profession