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How can ‘Women in IT’ be professional?

By Meera Joseph

Information and Technology is changing the expectations, responsibilities and competencies of ‘Women in IT’. Professionalism does not mean wearing the best clothes and your ability to network with people. The inability to handle certain job situations or tasks was often regarded as not being professional. This can be due to various factors including ‘your capability’ to do the job. The social norms and familial expectations should be kept in mind in achieving professionalism. Women need to have expert knowledge and certain characteristics and competencies to be professional. The expectations in an IT company vary day by day. Professionalism by women in IT should be handled wisely using some of the following tips below:

  • Women in IT need excellent presentation and communication skills.
  • Women should find ways to improve self-confidence and be less emotional while handling job issues.
  • Women are accountable of what they do, so be an active team player in the project that you are assigned.
  • Women in IT need excellent business writing skills for electronic communication in particular.
  • The way women in IT interact with the people, including your gestures will add to your professionalism
  • Women should dress to keep up with the ‘corporate culture’
  • Improve your qualifications and competencies. This would probably provide you more opportunities, responsibilities and financial gain.
  • Manage your time more efficiently. Women in IT need excellent time management skills as you might have to balance, work life, married life, partner life, community life and your social life along with the corporate life.
  • Establish your professionalism in whatever you do.

What does Professionalism mean to Women in IT?

By Meera Joseph

Nowadays, if you are technically an expert it does not mean you are a professional. Apart from being a technical expert you need to share the ideas of other IT ‘professionals’ in the field. Moreover most professional women in IT had to actively participate in the IT related activities as well to keep their professional status. Successful women in IT have also managed their femaleness in their job. It is important for young women to maintain their moral standards in the IT field. Apart from high moral ethics you need to engage with other IT colleagues and maintain the relationships with them. Professionalism of women would also mean looking up-to-date and making sure you know the trends in fashion. This can be done without spending much on  the accessories and clothes. Spend less money for a professional wardrobe that has clothes meant for every season. Does professionalism mean you are also account for social resposibilities? An answer is YES. More than producing an output that meets your manager’s expectations you are also accountable for the following questions:

  • Is your project beneficial for the society?
  • Will it do any harm to the society?
  • Can the application that you develop do any harm to the Women in particular?
  • Can the IT or ICT  application change the society in general?
  • Are you unaware of any societal problems that the developed application can pose?

 A moral of the story is Professionals are to be held accountable for their social obligations as well.

 

 

The under representation of Women in IT

 

by Meera Joseph

IT field is challenging, complex, multicultural and attractive. IT has the potential for socio-economic transformation. IT's potential for economic empowerment of women is a hot topic. Many scholars focus on barriers women face while working in the IT environment, and not on what solves the puzzle – the under representation of Women in IT.

There are certain KEY assumptions that hamper Women's development in the IT field:

Women especially in developing countries shoulder more familial responsibilities than men due to cultural norms.

  • Women are not readily available during irregular hours at work.
  • Women cannot travel long-distances again due to their multiple roles in the family.
  • Women cannot keep up with the competitive IT field and the rapid change in technology.
  • Women perform 'less' than men due to their family roles.

How can women ensure more women represent the IT field?

Choose a working environment that purely focuses on 'individual performance' and not on the negative side of the above assumptions. Be a 'jack of all trades'. This gives you the freedom to apply for various jobs within the same IT environment. Get a woman role model in the IT field that encourages you throughout your career. Acknowledge your limits, but value your potential and work smarter. Be confident and excel in what you do 'within the time limits'. Seek personal independence and discuss what role you can perform and how much time you can spend, both in work life and family life. Resist any negative stereotyping of women in IT. Take a 'girl child to IT' to deliberately create awareness of IT among girls and to encourage the use of IT when they are young. Make the girls IT literate and ensure they realize their full potential in the future.

Women and Excellence in IT

 

by Meera Joseph

Excellence can be achieved only if you excel in something.  Women should realize their potential and capabilities to use IT to excel in IT field. 'Excellence' is crucial for women IT professionals nowadays, as you are entering the ‘man's world’. Some tips for ‘aspiring’ women Information Technologists to achieving excellence in future are:

  • Make yourself clear on what your job entails and explain to your boss what you can contribute to the IT company. Insecurity on the first few months is natural.
  • Learn from your mistakes. Failure is the stepping stone to success. You may make mistakes when you do the IT job for the first time.
  • Learn from the people who criticize you.
  • Learn to accept mistakes that you made in the IT environment. Take responsibility of your actions and outcomes.
  • Make yourself clear and let your colleagues know what you cannot do.
  • Measure your outputs on a weekly basis/ reflect on what you achieved on a weekly basis. Reflect what you could not achieve on a daily basis.
  • Support, mentor and guide other women in your team or any women who is willing to do take the IT profession.
  • Be vocal. This is crucial in the man's world. Your ‘voice and opinions’ should be 'noted' by your colleagues. It is natural to see people ignoring you for the first 2-3 months in the job, when you join. Later when they realize your potential you 'will be heard'.
  • Develop leadership and negotiation skills on the road ahead.
  • Be willing to help other team members in the IT projects and be the role player.
  • Make sure you have a strong ambition and you have to develop the creative thinking abilities.
  • Your commitment to the IT job and being an ‘exceptional woman’ in IT is crucial to achieve 'excellence'.
  • Be willing to keep yourself in tune with the ever changing IT field. Embrace the use of new technologies.

IT for Women's Development

By Meera Joseph

Information Technology (IT) field has shifted its focus from mere software and hardware engineering to include the ‘C’ aspect – the ‘communication’ technologies. The cultural attitudes of women are impediments to realising the full potential of women in ICT. Women need IT and ICTs, in spite of all the barriers they face. Information Technology field has opened new opportunities for women in service sectors such as call centres and data entry jobs. The ‘gendered’ division of labour is emerging in the IT field with very few women in managerial and software development fields and more women involved merely in displaying information electronically. Women especially in the disadvantaged communities have not been able to keep abreast with the rapidly changing technology due their cultural backgrounds. There was gendered exclusion of women from studying science and mathematics till recently in most developing countries. This cultural stereotype led to fewer women studying IT and subsequently seeking IT jobs. This led to low participation of women in IT, low professional development and few skilled women in the IT field. The increase in mathematical expertise amongst women in countries such as India, Singapore and China, has been attributed to the success of IT women-power. In spite of this, skilled women make up a small percentage of the total IT workforce in these countries. More than education, language and culture have been barriers for women unlike men. It is important to cultivate the use of official languages other than English to develop software.  This would probably encourage more women from both urban and rural communities to enter the IT field. Professional women can also contribute by mentoring and supporting other women to women to choose IT as a career. Some useful links for Science and Maths online education are given below.

http://www.easycalculation.com/

http://www.mathguru.com/

http://www.vedicmathsindia.org/

http://www.indianmathonline.com/

http://www.sciencemag.org/

http://classroom.jc-schools.net/sci-units/

http://www.sciencenews.org/

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