Why Do Women Professionals Leave the IT Field? Ten Insights and Recommendations From the World IT Project

This article presents 10 insights explicating the reasons why women information technology (IT) professionals leave the IT field. This study analyzes the data obtained from 10 386 IT employees in 37 countries, collected during the World IT Project, the largest academic IT study ever conducted. The findings indicate that at the highest risk of permanently leaving the IT profession are women who 1) are employed part-time, have less education, and, as a result, work in supporting and liaison roles rather than in traditional core (i.e., men-dominated) IT positions; 2) are between 21 and 29 years old; 3) belong to an organization in a non-IT industry that has not reached a high level of organizational IT maturity and employs fewer than 200 people; and 4) exhibit high uncertainty avoidance and low individualism. Women occupying middle- and senior-level managerial positions are also more likely to leave IT than their nonmanagerial counterparts. The insights reveal an archetype of a woman IT employee who is at the highest risk of permanently leaving the IT profession and lead to practical recommendations for IT managers and policymakers.