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7 - Against All Odds

Culture and Context in the Female Information Technology Professional’s Career Choice and Experiences

from Part III - Cultural Perspectives from the United States and Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2019

By
Monica P. Adya
Edited by
Carol Frieze  and
Jeria L. Quesenberry
Carol Frieze
Affiliation:
Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
Jeria L. Quesenberry
Affiliation:
Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
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Summary

Since 2006–2007, I have interviewed numerous women in technology careers to understand their motivation for choosing their careers and their experiences in the technical workforce. While the intent of an initial study that emerged from some of these interviews (Adya, 2008) was to compare and contrast the experiences of South Asian and American women in the US workforce, the stories of some of these women were more broadly impactful. Some of these women were inspiring in how they overcame barriers and eventually succeeded in information technology (IT) careers, and others in how they changed the course of their lives, sometimes away from IT careers and into others that they felt they could grow into.

Type
Chapter
Information
Cracking the Digital Ceiling
Women in Computing around the World
 , pp. 121 - 141
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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