Diversity is about ensuring that we maximize the contributions that people with varying experiences bring. Diversity policies and practices are inclusive of gender and sexual orientation, national and racial backgrounds, and physical abilities. Enacting diversity is the right thing to do. It also pays off.
Diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences enrich the creativity and quality of workplace cultures, processes, and outcomes. Diversity helps organizations innovate, compete and succeed in the global economy. It lets employers tap bigger talent pools and mitigate the effects of demographics and shifting career preferences. In a culture that increasingly celebrates diversity, it brings spirit and excitement to the workplace.
All this is well known. But of course diversity isn't so simple. It's a hot button issue, susceptible to knee-jerk reactions pro and con. Sometimes, what seems obvious or desirable may turn out to be illusory - or, at least, debatable.
This certainly applies to diversity in Canada's information technology workforce. The main diversity issues here relate to three issues: gender, ethnicity/race, and the participation of new immigrants. In this post I discuss gender, and in the next, I'll take a look at ethnicity/race and immigrants.
Here's the preview: the conventional wisdom on gender is pretty close to reality. So far, that wisdom has not translated into sustainable solutions, but there are grounds for hope. On the other hand, the topic of ethnicity/race and immigrants has produced confusion and, perhaps, misplaced priorities.
Gender - female participation - is by far the biggest issue of the three. Women, whether as students or employees, are at best one quarter of the IT workforce. They are also more likely than men to quit IT for another function, or get out of the workforce entirely. They tend to work in ghettoized IT functions like graphics and Web design. Women rarely make it to IT top management, and are even less likely to be at the helm of an IT company. This has been an issue throughout IT's 50 year history, and it's not getting any better.
There is a lot of good research on this issue. Wendy Cukier's excellent summary nets it out:
- Socialization and early education. Computers are perceived as belonging to the male domains of mathematics, science, electronics and machinery. Though elementary school girls’ levels of achievement in math, science and computer use are as high, if not higher, than boys, their confidence levels are disturbingly low. The gap begins in grade 3 and increases with age.
- Systemic barriers to entry and retention in post-secondary institutions. Womens’ ways of learning are different from mens’ – more collaborative and focused on relevance. But most IT pedagogy is competitive and abstract.
- Impact of influencers and absence of role models. Parents, teachers, guidance counselors and peers all tend to agree: an ICT career is not the best choice for a girl.
- Misalignment of career descriptions with job requirements. The growing importance of creativity, communication, and collaboration in IT are not well communicated to students who are contemplating careers.
That last point is the most telling one. If young women actually knew how IT careers are changing - and the pathways to the new careers were more evident and, yes, less male-oriented - the numbers might actually start to change.
Consider this: if the number of women in IT increased to the level of men, the overall gap in the IT labour market would be pretty much eliminated. Instead, what has been happening is that, as overall IT enrollments have declined, the 25% ratio of female students has remained pretty much the same.
Lots of companies and organizations have tried to tackle this challenge. But progress has been slow, and frustrating. A lot of this activity has boiled down to marketing and messaging. But PR won't do the trick. The fact is, traditional IT is unappealing to many girls and women, for reasons that make sense. Traditional IT is a male culture, about techie mindsets and activities that are decreasingly appealing even to males.
What's needed is something new and arresting - something that will change fundamental perceptions and the realities of what IT careers are all about.
I believe that the new IT that I've been discussing in this blog, and that the Canadian Coalition for Tomorrow's ICT Skills stands for, offers that promise.