IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jtecht/v30y2005i4p383-396.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Leaving Careers in IT: Gender Differences in Retention

Author

Listed:
  • Paula Stephan
  • Sharon Levin

Abstract

The low prevalence of women in the information technology (IT) workforce has received considerable attention in recent years. The focus of much of this discussion concerns how women can be recruited into careers in IT by making careers more attractive and accessible to women. The size of the IT workforce depends on retention as well as recruitment. The focus of this study is on retention, examining factors related to retention and how retention varies by gender. Data for the study come from the Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) compiled by Science Resources Statistics (SRS), National Science Foundation (NSF). We find that retention varies by gender and that a sizeable proportion of IT-trained women who are not working in IT jobs leave the labor force rather than take positions in other occupations. We also find that marriage and family play different roles for women and men in affecting retention. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005

Suggested Citation

  • Paula Stephan & Sharon Levin, 2005. "Leaving Careers in IT: Gender Differences in Retention," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 383-396, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:30:y:2005:i:4:p:383-396
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-005-2583-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10961-005-2583-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10961-005-2583-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudia Goldin, 2004. "The Long Road to the Fast Track: Career and Family," NBER Working Papers 10331, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jennifer Hunt, 2016. "Why do Women Leave Science and Engineering?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 69(1), pages 199-226, January.
    2. João Ricardo Faria & Rajeev K. Goel & Devrim Göktepe-Hultén, 2022. "Factors facilitating the inventing academics transition from nascent entrepreneurs to business owners," Chapters, in: David E. Audretsch & Erik B. Lehmann & Albert N. Link (ed.), Handbook of Technology Transfer, chapter 5, pages 75-102, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Mike Thelwall, 2020. "Mid-career field switches reduce gender disparities in academic publishing," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(3), pages 1365-1383, June.
    4. Devrim Göktepe-Hulten & Prashanth Mahagaonkar, 2010. "Inventing and patenting activities of scientists: in the expectation of money or reputation?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 401-423, August.
    5. Rajeev Goel & Devrim Göktepe-Hultén, 2013. "Nascent entrepreneurship and inventive activity: a somewhat new perspective," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 471-485, August.
    6. Lisa D. Cook & Chaleampong Kongcharoen, 2010. "The Idea Gap in Pink and Black," NBER Working Papers 16331, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Dirk Dohse & Rajeev K. Goel & Devrim Göktepe‐Hultén, 2021. "Paths academic scientists take to entrepreneurship: Disaggregating direct and indirect influences," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(7), pages 1740-1753, October.
    8. Sharon Sassler & Katherine Michelmore & Kristin Smith, 2017. "A Tale of Two Majors: Explaining the Gender Gap in STEM Employment among Computer Science and Engineering Degree Holders," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-26, July.
    9. Stoetzer, Matthias-Wolfgang & Osborn, Evan, 2014. "Does gender really matter? An analysis of Jena University scientists collaboration with industry and non-profit-partners," Jena Contributions to Economic Research 2014/2, Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena – University of Applied Sciences, Department of Business Administration.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rob Euwals & Marike Knoef & Daniel Vuuren, 2011. "The trend in female labour force participation: what can be expected for the future?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 729-753, May.
    2. Ma. Christina Epetia, 2024. "Claudia Goldin and the economics of women and work," Philippine Review of Economics, University of the Philippines School of Economics and Philippine Economic Society, vol. 61(1), pages 71-86, June.
    3. Gabriele Plickert & Joyce Sterling, 2017. "Gender Still Matters: Effects of Workplace Discrimination on Employment Schedules of Young Professionals," Laws, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-22, November.
    4. Jisoo Hwang, 2016. "The second shift: assimilation in housework time among immigrants," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 941-959, December.
    5. LIU Xing & SIERMINSKA Eva, 2014. "Evaluating the effect of beauty on labor market outcomes: A review of the literature," LISER Working Paper Series 2014-11, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    6. Martín A Rossi & Christian A Ruzzier, 2018. "Career Choices and the Evolution of the College Gender Gap," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 307-333.
    7. Irene Selwaness & Caroline Krafft, 2021. "The Dynamics of Family Formation and Women’s Work: What Facilitates and Hinders Female Employment in the Middle East and North Africa?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(3), pages 533-587, June.
    8. Henrekson, Magnus & Dreber, Anna, 2004. "Female Career Success: Institutions, Path Dependence and Psychology," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 574, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 25 Jan 2007.
    9. Paserman, Daniele & Olivetti, Claudia & Salisbury, Laura & Weber, E. Anna, 2020. "Who Married, (to) Whom, and Where? Trends in Marriage in the United States, 1850-1940," CEPR Discussion Papers 15484, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Martha J. Bailey & Brad Hershbein & Amalia R. Miller, 2012. "The Opt-In Revolution? Contraception and the Gender Gap in Wages," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 225-254, July.
    11. Alícia Adserà, 2017. "The future fertility of highly educated women: the role of educational composition shifts and labor market barriers," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 15(1), pages 019-25.
    12. Daniela Bellani & Lesia Nedoluzhko & Gøsta Esping-Andersen, 2017. "Never partnered: A multilevel analysis of lifelong singlehood," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(4), pages 53-100.
    13. Bratsberg, Bernt & Kotsadam, Andreas & Walther, Selma, 2021. "Male Fertility: Facts, Distribution and Drivers of Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 14506, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Heather Boushey, 2008. "“Opting out?” The effect of children on women's employment in the United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 1-36.
    15. Dan Zeltzer, 2020. "Gender Homophily in Referral Networks: Consequences for the Medicare Physician Earnings Gap," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 169-197, April.
    16. Gordon B Dahl & Andreas Kotsadam & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2021. "Does Integration Change Gender Attitudes? The Effect of Randomly Assigning Women to Traditionally Male Teams," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 987-1030.
    17. Jacobs, Josephine C. & Van Houtven, Courtney H. & Laporte, Audrey & Coyte, Peter C., 2015. "Baby Boomer caregivers in the workforce: Do they fare better or worse than their predecessors?," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 89-101.
    18. Martha J. Bailey & Melanie Guldi & Brad J. Hershbein, 2014. "Is There a Case for a "Second Demographic Transition"? Three Distinctive Features of the Post-1960 U.S. Fertility Decline," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital in History: The American Record, pages 273-312, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Josep Amer-Mestre and Agnès Charpin, 2022. "Gender Differences in Early Occupational Choices: Evidence from Medical Specialty Selection," Economics Working Papers EUI ECO 2022/01, European University Institute.
    20. Paolo Verme, 2015. "Economic development and female labor participation in the Middle East and North Africa: a test of the U-shape hypothesis," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:30:y:2005:i:4:p:383-396. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.