Gender Gap for IT Professionals

Gender Gap Persists in IT

Gender Gap for IT Professionals - The term gender gap usually refers to the systematic differences in the outcomes that men and women achieve in the labor market. These differences are seen in the percentages of men and women in the labor force, the types of occupations they choose, and their relative incomes or hourly wages. These economic gender gaps, which were salient issues during the women’s movement in the 1960s and 1970s, have been of interest to economists at least since the 1890s.

According to several major studies, including one by Janco Associates, Inc., there is a gender gap in a number of IT functions.

Looking back at historical data we can see the importance women in the work place and why the gender gap is such a major issue.

Sources: 1890-1970, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975); and 1960 to 2000, Current Population Survey (CPS). Overlap period shows differences in the measurement of the labor force in the U.S. decennial population census and the CPS.

The gender gap that gets the most attention is in earnings. The ratio of female earnings to male earnings in full-time, year-round positions has increased greatly since the 1980s. That is, women’s earnings rose from, on average, about 60 percent of what men made to about 75 percent. Although no comprehensive data exist for the period before about 1950, evidence for major sectors of the economy, when properly combined, suggests that the gender gap in earnings narrowed substantially during two earlier periods in U.S. history. Between about 1820 and 1850, an era known as the industrial revolution in America, the ratio of female-to-male full-time earnings rose from about 0.3, its level in the agricultural economy, to about 0.5 in manufacturing. From about 1890 to 1930, when the clerical and sales sectors began their ascendancy, the ratio of female earnings to male earnings again rose, from 0.46 to 0.56. But in neither of these periods did married and adult women’s employment expand greatly. Yet, between 1950 and 1980, when so many married women were entering the labor force, the ratio of female earnings to male earnings for full-time, year-round employees was virtually constant, at 60 percent.

What accounts for the difference in earnings between men and women? According to the literature, observable factors that affect pay—such as education, job experience, hours of work, and so on—explain no more than 50 percent of the wage gap. The most recent studies, as reported in a review by economists Blau and Kahn (2000), found that the fraction explained is now even lower, about 33 percent. The reason is that the decrease in the gender gap in earnings was largely due to an increase in the productive attributes of women relative to men. The remainder of the gap—termed the residual—is the part that cannot be explained by observable factors. This residual could result from workers’ choices or, alternatively, from economic discrimination. Surprisingly, the differing occupations of men and women explain only 10–33 percent of the difference in male and female earnings. The rest is due to differences within occupations, and part of that is due to the observable factors. In just about any year chosen, the ratio of women’s to men’s earnings decreases with age and rises with education. Most telling is that the ratio is higher for single than for married individuals, particularly for those without children. Family responsibilities have been an important factor in slowing women’s occupational advancement over the life cycle.

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The job descriptions contained within the Internet and Information Technology Position Descriptions HandiGuide® are all in a standard format and are available as in PDF and WORD .docx formats.  All of the job descriptions were reviewed and updated to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and the ISO 27000 security standard.  The latest version of the HandiGuide was completed in 2021 and is over 700 pages in length.  The Internet and IT Position Descriptions HandiGuide includes sample organization charts, a job progression matrix, and the 324 job descriptions.   The book also addresses Fair Labor Standards, Sexual Harassment, the ADA, and is in a new easier to . 

Each job description meets ADA standards and the position description is delivered in electronic format - WORD (2007) which is editable and PDF which is printed.  Also included are tools to help you expand, evaluate and define your enterprise's unique additional requirements. Those tools include:

• Job Evaluation Questionnaire
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• Job Progression Matrix (Job Family Classifications)
• Best Practices - Resume Screening
• Best Practices - Phone Screening
• Hiring Guide

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Gender Gap Statistics

• Less than 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women
• Just over 5% of corporate “clout” positions – exec VPs or higher – are held by females
• Only 1 out of 18 women earn six-figure salaries, compared to 1 in 7 for men
• 41% of female executives say they lack the power to perform effectively in their current positions
• 67% of women need more power than they have to succeed in their careers
• 60% of say they have only a 50/50 chance of achieving the power they need for career success
• 60% of female execs prefer passive approaches to gaining power rather than active pursuit
• 4% of women say they’re less powerful than their male peers
• 43% of female professionals say that if they had more power, they’d create a better work environment

Ways to Achieve Power:

• Proving yourself via accomplishments (as cited by 15.2%)
• Observing powerful people (13.5%)
• Gaining access to powerful people (9.2%)

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