Disappearing Women: A Study on Women Who Walked Away from their ICT Careers

Abstract

Women continue to leave the UK ICT sector in disproportionate numbers, yet little research has documented the processes of this phenomenon. The ‘Disappearing Women’ project, draws on ten in-depth qualitative autobiographical interviews with women who have left (disappeared) the ICT workplace, vowing never to return. The majority of existing studies, in this area, concentrate on women who remain in the ICT workplace, this study, found the ‘disappearing’ who had been overlooked and effectively silenced and allowed their voices to be heard. It is these women who once found, were able to facilitate a more in-depth understanding of why women were leaving the ICT sector, and indifferent working conditions encountered that became determining factors in leaving the ICT sector.

Keywords

• gender
• ICT workplace
• UK ICT sector
• autobiographical interviews
• co-produced interviews
• women and IT.