Negative experiences

Continuing the analysis of the respondents following the structure of Table 1., I have arrived at the

final two overarching categories for analysis. Fillippa belongs to the first of the two, as she has had

predominantly negative experiences in the field of IT and gained an interest for IT by relating her

personal soft interests to the field. As previously mentioned, she specifically went into the field with

the purpose of making a difference for other people.

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Partly because of that, but also partly because I wanted to study something interesting (answer to why she chose to study IT and whether it had to do with her wanting to make a difference).

However, despite her devotion to making a difference and her interest in IT as a subject, she still has had predominantly negative experiences in the field. Fillippa sometimes feels like noone is listening to her and that she is not taken seriously by her male coworkers. Sometimes these men act as if she was clueless with regard to her tasks. However, it varies from context to context and from person to person. Her Head of Department treats her no differently than her male coworkers , but her project managers on her current project can be very difficult towards her. This means that she has to go over the head of her project managers and take her suggestions directly to the Head of Department in order to be heard. Another experience that she has made, is that the dull work assignments typically get pushed her way by her coworkers. Because she is not listened to, her coworkers tend to get away with it, even if she complains about it.

It depends on what context is referred to. Out here, you don’t pay as much attention towards

whether people treat you differently or not on a daily basis, so in that way it is quite

professional. However, I can feel the presence of these small subtle things that were not

there when I was studying ... Here, it depends a lot on who you are talking with. Some have

a more unsociable tendency. If I participate in meetings with certain people for example, I

can feel myself repeating what I am saying again and again before they even want to take

what I am saying seriously. Sometimes, I can experience that people act as if I have no clue

of what I am talking about or what I am doing. In other meetings or other contexts, I feel

more like people are listening to me, take me seriously and treat me equally ... However, it

is not really the same with my project leaders (as opposed to her boss). With them, I have to

say things many times. There have been occasions where I either had to push them really

hard or go directly to my boss instead, because I was simply not listened to ... I sometimes

have the feeling that the others (the men) try to push the hard tasks away from themselves,

and they always land on my table ... It is not only the hard tasks. I also experience it

happening with the more dull tasks.

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As established in the analyses of Emily and Nora, the organizational culture of BK Medical is likely to be that of calculation (Ahuja, 2002). Furthermore, I established that the reason for Nora’s positive experiences in the company was likely due to her achievement of an expert-level status, earning her the respect of her male coworkers. This expert-level status was proposed to partly stem from Nora’s degree in Medicine and Technology and partly from her performance levels and confidence in her own abilities acquired through gradual exposure to IT and upbringing. Like Nora, Fillippa has a relevant, high-skill educational background in Computer Science. Following the assumptions made in the analysis of Nora’s experiences, Fillippa should have had similar experiences due to her similar background. Her acquired skill-level should have granted her expert status and the respect of her male coworkers. Since this is not the case, the circumstances for Fillippa’s experiences at BK Medical must be different than those of Nora. From the data collected in the two interviews , the main difference between them is how they gained an interest in IT. Whereas Nora’s early exposure to IT, the support of her parents and the resulting increase in confidence is assumed to have resulted in the absence of stereotype threat influence, Fillippa explains how her educational experiences were colored by stereotypical perceptions of women in the field.

There have been occasions where people have really taken these stereotypes to the extreme. I have tried being the only one in class who could not get a partner for group assignments because the other students, in all seriousness, have said that girls can’t code.

Although these stereotypical perceptions of her as a woman did not entirely discourage her from

completing her degree, they are likely to have affected her perception of the field through

stereotype threat (Hill et al., 2010). Thus, the reason for Fillippa’s experiences being significantly

different from Nora’s experiences could be ascribed to their levels of confidence, with Fillippa having

less confidence than Nora due to the influence of stereotype threat. Noticing Fillippa’s lack of

confidence, her male coworkers are assumed to associate Fillippa with the stereotypes and biases

of women being inferior to men regarding IT work (Hill et al., 2010), which in turn automatically

assigns Fillippa a non-expert status at the company. Therefore, she is not taken seriously or listened

to by her male coworkers.

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Although Fillippa and Emily both gained an interest for IT by relation to softer values and both work at the same company, the circumstances that lay the foundation for their experiences are different.

Emily’s work requires soft skills, explaining why she has predominantly worked in gender balanced or women-heavy teams. As mentioned in the analysis of her experiences, she has had to rely on her soft skills to perform well at the same time as exhibiting masculinity to fit into the male dominated environment. Fillippa, contrarily, relies on hard skills to perform well, but shows difficulty exhibiting masculinity.

I may change the way I communicate with people, but I don’t change who I am … If it is necessary to tell people off, I am going to do so, but I try not to if possible. I would do the same everywhere else.

Thus, she has not developed the coping strategy of emphasizing masculine traits and downplaying her female status (Elsbach et al., 2019) that was previously used as a possible explanation for the positive experiences of some of the other respondents. This study, therefore, argues that a lack of strategies for adapting to the male dominated environment can be counted as another factor for Fillippa’s negative experiences. I assume that Fillippa’s lack of masculine traits further substantiates the perception of inferiority that her male coworkers have of her.

Isabella, the last of the 11 respondents, has had predominantly negative experiences in the field of IT in Denmark, but she is not certain of how her interest for IT was gained. According to Isabella, working in IT in Denmark as a woman, you have to be able to push back the men when they get uncomfortable, something that she is very bad at herself. Therefore, people do not always take her seriously. It is especially difficult for her because she speaks Swedish, which can make it hard for coworkers to understand what she is saying. Sometimes, she has to repeat herself ten times before being heard. Additionally, her male coworkers do not meet her gaze and always avoid any form of eye contact.

For example I think women here are more ''upfront “. You have to be able to push back as a

woman to get anything in Denmark ... I am very bad at it ... Yes kind of (answer to whether

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it is an issue for her and if she does not get taken seriously because of it) ... I can feel that they have a hard time replying to what I am saying. Often they do not meet my gaze and I have to say the same thing 10 times over and over again ... Yes for sure! (Answer to whether language has anything to do with it).

Similar to Fillippa, Isabella works with the harder aspects of IT, namely software development, and has also experienced difficulties being taken seriously and being heard. Therefore, this study assumes that Isabella’s negative experiences can be explained in a similar fashion to the negative experiences of Fillippa. The culture of the department in which Isabella works is assumed to be that of calculation as she works with software development, which is categorized as engineering and, therefore, is dominated by masculine values (Ahuja, 2002; Alegria, 2019). That being the case, I assume that Isabella’s male coworkers harbor prejudice against her, based on the prevalent stereotypes and biases of the field, which brand women as inferior to men in technological contexts (Hill et al., 2010). In support of this assumption, Isabella explains how she always gets the more tedious and simple assignments instead of the more challenging ones.

I get the more boring tasks … Oh yes! They are just really simple and boring (answer to whether her coworkers are also capable of engaging in these tasks).

This statement could illustrate how Isabella’s abilities are being questioned. She is not entrusted with more complicated assignments and is left working on the simple ones. Therefore, I proceed to assume that like Fillippa, Isabella is considered a non-expert and part of the out-group (Ramsey et al. 2005). The presence of micro-inequities such as how her male coworkers avoid eye contact with her further illustrates exclusive behaviors that segregate her from the men, reinforcing this study’s assumption of the existence of in- and out-group dualisms in her department. The fact that she is not a Danish national and does not speak the language is likely to cause additional alienation from her colleagues.

As mentioned, one of Isabella’s perceptions of the IT field in Denmark is that as a woman, you have

to be able to stand up for yourself around male coworkers to get what you want, which is something

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that she does a poor job at in her own experience. This study suggests that her unableness to stand

up for herself is due to a lack of confidence. This lack of confidence could be linked to Bourdieu’s

(1999) symbolic violence, in which case Isabella has accepted the biased perceptions that her male

coworkers have of her, or at least is unable to oppose them. As assumed in the analysis of Fillippa’s

experiences, a lack of confidence will further reinforce the prejudice held against Isabella by her

male colleagues, creating a circle of prejudice and negative experiences.

In document THE GENDER GAP IN THE DANISH IT SECTOR (Sider 67-72)