A qualitative approach to the academic trajectory and professional performance of Peruvian women in IT
Abstract
Research shows that women's participation in the information technology (IT) field has continued to decline over the past 25 years. In Peru, less than 1% of Peruvian women were enrolled in careers related to information technology and the proportion of women and men enrolled in these programs was 16% and 84% respectively. However, the occupational field has a dizzying trend to continue generating IT-related jobs that offer attractive career and economic prospects, and that have even been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this qualitative research, which is framed in the intersection of three key axis: higher education, gender, and information technology, and is input from a more extensive mixed study, was to carry out an approach to characterize the academic trajectories and professional performance of Peruvian IT professional women through in-depth interviews. The interviews were addressed under the following dimensions: vocation, academic performance, degrees obtained, family support, role models and mentors, professional background, economic return, promotions, and professional satisfaction. The main findings of this study revealed that in general, Peruvian IT professional women are satisfied with their careers mainly because of the learning challenges it proposes, the salaries and the professional advancement; it should be noted that salary, while important, is not a primary motivation for them. The academic process to becoming professionals begins mainly with an inclination for mathematics, a career choice externally influenced, very high family support and valuable experiences during their internships. It is concluded that the professional life for these women is configured as auspicious where they feel professionally satisfied based on their previous vocational decisions, the experiences lived throughout their academic career and the beginning of their professional life. The academic trajectory with its different nuances constitutes for these women an interesting bridge towards a satisfactory professional life.
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