Holistic factors that impact the under-representation of women in ICT : a systematic literature review

Abstract

An under-representation of women in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry exits. Current research tends to focus on either social aspects (social construction) or physical aspects as cause for this phenomenon. Consequently, there is a lack of a holistic perspective of factors that causes the under-representation of women in ICT. This research provides a holistic perspective of factors that causes the under-representation of women in the ICT industry. This research was performed by conducting a systematic literature review that considered 89 articles to identify factors that cause the under-representation of women in ICT. The identified factors were classified as: organizational, economical and socio-psychobiological. The under-representation of women in ICT can now be better addressed by holistically considering this classification of factors to increase female participation in ICT.