Abstract:

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the reasons why the Information Communication Technologies (ICT) sector does not take full advantage of female talent and engage all the workforce capacity in the knowledge-based economy where the key determinant of economic growth and productivity improvements is ICT.
Design/methodology/approach – The author discusses some of the results derived from the project Gender-IT, a two-year initiative co-funded by the European Union’s Lifelong Learning Programme, under the Leonardo da Vinci Action in Cyprus. Key players in the areas of ICT in Cyprus gathered together in an attempt to collect opinions and identify the reasons why the ICT sector is not so appealing to women and raising awareness of the gender ICT issues.
Findings – The author identifies the main reasons why ICT as a professional career is not the main choice for young people and especially women, even though it is a field which is continuously evolving and developing taking into consideration the Cyprus culture and attitudes. The flexible working environment is not yet regarded as an added employment benefit by many women in Cyprus.
Research limitations/implications – The study is based on a qualitative survey with key participants from the ICT industry, policy-makers, representatives of NGOs dealing with gender issues, academicians and information technology students. In the next phase of this research, the author will conduct a quantitative research for monitoring the trends discussed.
Originality/value – Economies of the world have been transformed to knowledge-based ones, creating a strong demand for workers who are skilled in the different sectors of ICT cutting across a number of different areas ranging from manufacturing and services, transportation, health care, education, commerce and government. Female workers are considered important for economic development and growth. The European Commission and not only, has undertaken a number of initiatives to empower women and increase their participation in the ICT sector. For those initiatives to flourish the reasons why ICT is not attractive to women need to be considered. These main issues are identified in this paper.

Keywords:

Women, ICT profession, Information Communication technologies.