Girls’ choice : why won’t they pick it?

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p>The low number of women in the Information Technology (IT) field is a concern of European Information Systems (IS) research, among other disciplines. Despite a vast body of research generated during decades, the problem persists. That is a challenge for the society and detrimental from the viewpoint of IS workforce. It is an issue that needs attention from IS education as well. This narrative literature review aims at offering a fresh perspective on this old yet current topic by inquiring what seems to affect whether senior high school girls end up studying in the IT field. We consider IT education and career as important choices to build young women’s capabilities to leave their marks and take powerful actions in the digital society. Using nexus analysis as our theoretical lens we focus our analysis of literature on discourses, different actors and interaction between them, and histories; all of those affecting the girls’ choice of career. Our results show that various cultural norms and assumptions still influence the choices. Based on our findings, we call for in-depth qualitative analyses on girls’ life world and targeting girls, their parents, and teachers, as well as better linking our efforts to girls’ everyday life.</p></div>