Cultural and Social Contexts and Influencing Factors

The first two layers of the STEMcell Model are detailed in this chapter: the cultural and social contexts and their influencing factors. These are largely identified in the voluminous preceding research. Key cultural influencing factors are popular culture, cultural norms, parental expectations, and occupational culture. Key social influencing factors are stereotypes, role modelling, mentoring, clubs, networks, media, peers, family, hygiene factors, and social norms. These factors and the degree of their actual influence are discussed critically, highlighting potential warning signs and issues. The overall conclusion is that, with the exception of cultures that strictly limit female participation, both the contexts themselves and interventions targeted at them have much less influence than is commonly assumed.

#SocialIT

The #SocialIT layer of the STEMcell Model is visualized as a layer surrounding and penetrating the other layers to interact directly with the individual core. It represents the seismic transformations where technology underpins and transforms the future. Six drivers most likely to shape the future workforce are highlighted in this chapter: longer life spans, a rise in smart devices and systems, advances in computational systems such as sensors and processing power, new multimedia technology, the continuing evolution of social media, and a globally connected world. Specific tools and potentials of #SocialIT are discussed, including big data, augmented reality and wearable technologies, crowdsourcing and the new ways for people to meet and collaborate, rapid changes in technology fracturing generations only a few years apart, and the social, educational, and career implications of substantially extended active lifespans. The #SocialIT layer implies that future programs, projects, and activities should be developed by tapping into this shifting technological landscape and actively using the tools and platforms. However, the deeper meaning is that what is happening naturally is going to rapidly overtake anything we can plan based on the present.

Individual Context

The core principle derived from evaluation of the data is that the number of women in IT (or any career) is not a matter of the balance of societal forces, which we can push one way or another with the right lever. It comes down to the individual and her pursuit of happiness through her own values. This puts the individual at the core of the STEMcell Model. The influencing factors of philosophy, values, rights, assumptions, strength, self belief, interests, differences, ability, curiosity, creativity, and reality are explored in this chapter in that context. The centrality of individual choice does not mean there is nothing we can do about remaining barriers, but it does mean that empowering the individual (especially through the disruptive technologies of #SocialIT) and accepting their choices is the solution. The answer to collectivist prejudices about “women” is not collectivist actions that accept the same underlying assumption, but is instead recognising that the only differences that matter are individual ones. Contrary to beliefs that the low proportion of women in IT should be viewed through a gender or culture lens, the results and analyses in this book indicate that not only is innate interest the main driver of an IT career, but most women with that interest are perfectly capable of discovering it themselves. And that is why no single “solution” has been found, and why a wide variety of interventions have had no significant impact—because there is no generic solution to finding out “what women want”—individually.

Structural Context and Influencing Factors

Structural context and influencing factors form another layer of the STEMcell Model, interacting with the cultural and social contexts and the individual core. Key structural factors identified in the literature are industry branding, information, access, education, support mechanism, and government policies. These traditionally identified factors are explored critically in relation to the STEMcell Model. A key conclusion drawn in this chapter is that the structural factors are not significant today and, consequently, interventions to address them have had minimal effects. It is argued that individual interest is the greatest driver; however, interest in STEM fields does not necessarily translate into choosing STEM as a career, as individuals have competing interests and motives. In addition, some warnings are issued against using attraction methods that lead to false or misleading expectations. An overall conclusion is that in a rapidly changing world perhaps what we need are less solutions imposed from above and more solutions grown from below.

Women in IT

The historical context of women in technology is introduced through individual and collective tales of notable women in the field, from Hypatia of Alexandria through to World War II Code Breakers. The lives of these women show that while women in technology (and its ancestors philosophy and mathematics) have been present throughout history, for millennia the pervading social and cultural contexts formed strong barriers against them. These barriers were so pervasive that they not merely hindered but practically suppressed female involvement in such fields. Yet, some women leaped those barriers, often in creative and interesting ways, to not only pursue their interests but also positively contribute to the overall fields of technology, science, and engineering. However, it took exceptionally resilient, strong individuals to do so.

Differences

Experiences in other industries and cultures are compared to put the issue of women in IT into a broader perspective in this chapter. The issues of low and declining participation of women are not unique to IT: similar patterns, theories, intervention programs, and results have been noted in other fields. However, in yet other fields women have risen naturally from a small minority to a substantial majority. This supports the thesis of this book that individual interest and choice are the main drivers of career choice. Among different countries and cultures, the proportion of women in IT varies from cases similar to ours, to cases where there is little difference between men and women. However, the latter represent different rather than less gender bias. It is argued that the power of #SocialIT to reach across cultural barriers directly to the individual and their personal interests will help women everywhere by showing them what is possible and giving them tools to achieve it themselves. The overall evidence is that interventions do not achieve their aims. To the extent that they have any positive effect, they do not increase numbers overall or benefit all minorities, merely rearrange the distribution. Not only have interventions had little positive effect, but the warning is made that we need to consider the unintended consequences of our well-meaning interventions.

Popular Theories

The issue of women in IT has attracted voluminous research with many theories framing discussions, such as Essentialist Theory, Social Construction Theory, Individual Differences Theory, Structuration Theory, Theory of Reasoned Action, and their resulting Gender Modelling, Leaky Pipeline, Life Course Approach, Critical Mass, and Dualism Models. Key theories are critically examined in this chapter, and it is concluded that not only have no real world benefits ensued, but in some cases the theories themselves may be part of the problem by negatively framing expectations. However, the years of research should not be wasted: rather, the tools of #SocialIT, such as hackfests, should be applied to gain deeper and wider understanding. The new STEMcell Model is most similar to the Life Course approach and within-gender variants of Gender Theory. However, it goes further to identify an individual's interests and talents as more drivers in themselves than something passively shaped by society. External influences and barriers do exist but need to be considered in the context of the individual, not the other way around, and those barriers will be swept away by the tools and effects of #SocialIT.

The Old Approach

For decades, governments, associations, and individuals have enthusiastically jumped to “solve the women in IT issue” with a variety of intervention programs aimed at increasing recruitment and retention of women in IT. But beyond a few individual career choices and anecdotal “feel good” results on the day, these traditional programs have failed utterly. An estimate of the cumulative effort and spending on these programs demonstrates the sheer size of the exercise and underlines the depth of the failure. We do not need more of the same, but rather, we need to work out why we have failed. New informal research is presented in this chapter on the key influences on women choosing IT careers, delivering a key result that women in IT have always known they liked technology or they discovered (by an accident of their job) they liked IT. Interventions have had minimal effect but the importance of adapting to the Social Era for future interventions is recognised. The conclusion is that there is little value in the traditional approaches and further massive spending is unwarranted. Rather, we need to recognise that the primary driving issue is individual interests and talents, whilst the remaining barriers are best overcome by embracing the new era and using the disruptive technologies, platforms, and tools of #SocialIT.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The focus of this chapter is recommendations. Overall and individual chapter conclusions are summarized; then 3 overarching and 35 detailed recommendations are presented of relevance to all stakeholders from governments to theorists to individuals. The primary recommendation is simple: Stop.

A New Approach

We are in new times that call for new ways of thinking. Digital disruption is almost the norm, and the power of social media has shaken governments. The emergence of this new disruptive Social Era demands a new model for framing the cultural, social and structural contexts, and influences on women in IT. Such a model is presented in the “STEMcell” Model, a unique 3D Earth-style visualisation that incorporates the influence of social media in its #SocialIT layer and brings new recognition to the central role of the individual at and as its core. The rules have changed, so when viewing women in technology, it is time to adapt and adopt the new model. It is time to consider the core significance of the individual and the seismic digital disruptions and tectonic technological changes we are experiencing and move towards a new approach. The rules of the new social era are translated into new rules of encouraging women in IT in this chapter. The key is that small, fast, fluid, and distributed will prevail over large, stable, and centralised.