Career Development of Women Executives in Information Technology Sector

Now days the status of women has undergone a sea change in the past two decades from a simple homemaker to a self-motivated multi-tasker, by providing her mark in every field, which includes even the male dominated professions. In corporate, she is a victim of the insensitive effects of glass ceiling, and pay inequity. Despite the impressive increase of women in the workforce, they continue to be underrepresented in top positions in the information technology (IT) field. This gender gap is most apparent at the senior management and executive levels .A search of the literature, combined with interviews of some successful women at executive levels of the information technology [IT] industry shows that women are considerably under-represented across the field and have been underrepresented since the field’s beginnings, despite efforts to attract and retain them. A qualitative study is conducted to develop an in-depth understanding of career development of women working on executive level in information technology sector. The study examines the barriers that hinder the growth and the factors that support the women in achieving executive level positions. Furthermore, this study obtains an in-depth understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by the women as they progressed up the career ladder to executive level positions.