Information Technology Reference
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There are few examples of research that use a subjectivist approach and qualitative
method focusing on the gender imbalance in the IS/IT industry. There are even fewer
examples of research that have explicitly adopted a feminist research approach.
Adam (2001) argues that the adoption of feminist theory in the study of gender within
IS has the potential to reap benefits in three ways. These are:
1. support for IS commitment to social and cultural aspects;
2. commitment to emancipatory action that results in the revelation of previously
hidden viewpoints, thus contributing to knowledge; and
3. emphasis upon the minority or repressed being involved in the development of
their own methods for liberation.
In response, the aim of this paper is to adopt a feminist epistemology to demonstrate
that this approach has the capability to build a rich insight into the experiences of women
currently working successfully in the IT industry in Tasmania. In the short term it is
not feasible to expect a change in the dominance of a male culture in IS/IT. However,
reporting the experiences of women who have achieved in the industry is a positive
move to weaken the extent of this domination and potentially attract women in larger
numbers to careers in the IS/IT field.
Background
The aim in this section of the paper is to briefly outline the nature of IS as an emerging
discipline, the imbalance of women in the IS/IT industry, the scope of IS gender research
and then to offer an insight into feminist research. From this background the research
questions posed in this paper are then presented.
IS as an emerging discipline
As a relatively recent discipline, IS draws on a range of reference disciplines. The major
sub-disciplines are in turn focused in a different set of sub-disciplines (Robinson and
Richardson, 1999). The primary reference disciplines have been identified as computer
science, management science, organisational science, cognitive science and economics.
The secondary reference disciplines are sociology, information science, linguistics, an-
thropology, ergonomics and systems science (Khazanchi and Munkvold, 2000). This
implies that research from an IS perspective draws on a wide range of domains of study,
strategies and methods (Marble, 2000; Robinson and Richardson, 1999). Because of this,
IS is often criticised for its diversity and fragmentation, which are seen as precluding
an ability to become a mature discipline with a cumulative research tradition (Robinson
and Richardson, 1999).
At the same time IS has been acknowledged as having 'subject matter that is so central
to contemporary society' (Robinson and Richardson, 1999, p. 3) that is subjected to
continuous change (O'Donovan and Roode, 2002). While there is pressure for IS to con-
solidate, this does not imply that IS research should be static, but rather it should be
open to innovative ways of doing research. The application of a feminist epistemology,
as demonstrated in this paper, is one example. The aim in adopting this approach is not
to offer an alternative epistemology but to show that, in IS gender research, a feminist
approach can be beneficially applied (Adam and Richardson, 2001).
The imbalance of women in the IS/IT industry
In most Western countries women remain a minority in the IT industry (Trauth et al.,
2003). UK women were found to be a minority in all areas of the IT industry in the
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