Drawing on the Underrepresentation of Women in IT-Professions: An Analysis of Existing Knowledge and Need for Research along the Stages of Educational Systems

Abstract

MOTIVATION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT Recent statistics reveal that organizations fail to fill all their information technology (IT) vacancies. Since numerous years, almost every organization in the European Union is affected by the skill shortage of qualified IT employees. Facing this challenge, the education of IT employees is considered one of the major issues by organizations and governmental institutions. Furthermore, IT professions are still dominated by men and women are widely underrepresented. From a theoretical perspective, the topic why women choose an IT career is discussed within IS research so far. Thereby, previous research also reveals that organizations often face challenges to retain female IT employees, and that turnaway and turnover of employees represent a serious issue. In the meantime, different institutions within the educational system (e.g. schools, universities, institutions for vocational education) take various approaches to give young women an understanding of IT and its work environment. On closer consideration of the educational system in general, multiple ways become apparent that enable access to IT professions: secondary and higher education as well as further education. This literature review reveals how the underrepresentation of women in IT professions is focused within IS research regarding the stages of educational systems.