The influence of intersectional identity on women in the IT field

A woman in modern society is subjected to a barrage of messages about engagement with technology. But the ways in which these messages do or do not take hold are affected by her identity - a combination of demographics such as gender, race, ethnicity, marital status, and socio-economic status. Hence, an understanding of intersectional identity is crucial to advancing our knowledge about gender barriers and how they affect women in the IT field. Life history interviews conducted with women IT professionals in the USA illustrate how a woman’s intersectional identity interacts with societal and individual influences to enhance or inhibit her participation in the IT sector. A framework developed in Trauth and Quesenberry (2006) explains how this within-gender variation occurs. A woman’s intersectional identity influences her exposure to, experience of, and response to gender biases and barriers. This framework is employed to consider three identities: motherhood, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation.