Women working in ICT: situation and possibilities of progress in Catalonia and Spain

Abstract

The ICT sector is becoming a strategic and growing sector in our current societies and economies. However, gender inequalities persist and women¿s representation in ICT is still low in Catalonia and Spain. In this article, we introduce the situation of women working in ICT and seek to identify the main barriers and opportunities for their progress. We implemented a survey that was answered by 325 women working in ICT in Catalonia. Our results show that women in ICT do not always access ICT jobs from an engineering degree, are satisfied with their jobs and enjoy better salaries than in other sectors, and that some flexi-time measures and other working conditions may play in their favor. This needs to be highlighted in order to encourage many more women to work in ICT. However, our results also suggest that too many women still suffer gender-based discrimination, work-life balance conflicts, and serious difficulties in being promoted. This also needs to be addressed if we are to improve the numbers of women in ICT.