Raising awareness: Towards building equal conditions in the IT work-field

Abstract: Once women were the pioneers within the tech industry, but during the past decades the number of women who choose a career within computer science has decreased rapidly. The imbalance raises the question if the tech industry has been adapted for a more masculine way. The lack of female participation in Information Technology (IT) education and professional work is a challenging and constant issue. This problematic is now a well-documented research area, but the causes and remedies remain puzzling and complex. A quantitative study and literature review aims to shed light on one of the possible underlying issues, which might be prevented men to acknowledge and to discuss gender imbalances, and be a part of the solution: the fear to lose all privileges the norm has historically provided them. Thus, this project aims to bring awareness to those hegemonic groups and urge them to improve conditions by using their power status as a firststep towards to fixing the system and a generation of equity conditions, so everybody could have access to the same opportunities to develop a satisfactory professional career within the IT field.