I came across a study of managing organization and business readiness towards information technologies and information society implementation. The study quotes evidence from different authors that despite the huge investment in IT/IS (e.g. in US IT capital investment has reached 50% of business capital spending), the return on investment and the take up by industries has been disappointing. The authors argue that the main reason is that too much focus has been given to “hard issues” of IT/IS implementation, while the “soft issues” which underpin the capability of the organization to successfully implement IT into its work practices have been left behind. They argue that e-readiness capability assessment is essential to reduce the pitfalls and yield positive outcomes.
It seems that in addition to the hardware, broadband, internet speed and quality, the soft issues of people, their skills and their readiness to participate in the information society are equally important for e-inclusion and bridging the digital divide.
To me it is particularly interesting how women are acquiring IT skills and why they are so underrepresented in the IT and engineering occupations.
Commissioner Neelie Kroes in a speech on the EU initiative to get every woman digital is asking: “Can anyone name a woman who set up and run their own huge ICT company? In that hall of fame, the names you think of are Jobs, Gates, the Google guys, the Skype guys, Zuckerberg and his friends. It’s time we saw a woman on that list.”
I found a study trying to explain why there are so few women in technology and science (e.g. in US in 2008 only 20% of computer programmers and engineers were women, and only 7% of mechanical and electronics engineers were women). The study found that social and environmental factors clearly contribute to the underrepresentation of women in technology and science.
Negative stereotypes about girls’ and women’s abilities in engineering and science persist and can adversely affect their performance in these fields. The research shows that not only do most people associate math and science with “male,” they often hold negative opinions of women in “masculine” jobs or positions, like scientists or engineers.
Research by Mahzarin Banaji, a former AAUW fellow, and her colleagues at Harvard University shows that even individuals who consciously reject negative stereotypes about women in science often still believe that science is better suited to men at an unconscious level. These unconscious beliefs or implicit biases may be more powerful than explicitly held beliefs and values simply because we are not aware of them. A test has been developed to see people’s unconscious believes in this field. I took the test and to my surprise the result was that I have very strong unconscious bias against women participating in science and engineering.
It seems that in the information age we need to not only develop infrastructure and hardware and train and prepare people, but to overcome our biases from the past.
I tried the test and got the result:"Your data suggest little or no association between Female and Male with Science and Liberal Arts." I think this reflects my Science background - I've a degree in Computer Science - and family, where my sister and niece are both scientists. Reading the study on "Why so few?" was rather depressing - in my class at university one third were women, the percentage has gone down since then.
ReplyDeleteThe soft skills are very important, in a blog entry comparing online education environments - GLOW and EduBuzz (http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2010/12/snow-days-virtual-school-community-edubuzzs-record-breaking-week.html), the author states "As well as being a tools issue, it's a media literacy one above all." It's all very well providing the hardware, how people use it needs to be taught too and is too often forgotten. The increase in social networking and eCommerce gives people more reasons to use the internet.
Shirley, it's good to see your comment. I'm happy it works now.
ReplyDeleteGood for you that the test shows you're not biased against women and science. Although my mother is a computer scientist and I have Master of Sciences, my result showed the strongest bias. It was really a surprise to me but it seems a lot of people like me hold unconscious prejudice that will be a hard to overcome.
That's interesting - I wonder if there is any research on how to overcome unconscious biases?
ReplyDeleteMy data from the test suggests the following (just as well my wife is a graduate engineer!)
ReplyDelete"Your data suggest little or no association between Male and Female with Science and Liberal Arts"
I am surprised that this issue remains to this day. Might it be that the ICT industry is different?
In most industries 'soft skills' i.e. interpersonal skills and communication skills are a distinct advantage...yet those most successful in the ICT indistry are self-confessed 'nerds' who have lacked these skills as they build their business.
Is this industry just an anomaly industry where the normal rules do not apply? It is all about the idea and vision, rather than any key business skills?