The digital gender divide : a narrative study on women working in tech in Portugal

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Daniela Badaraco Basto da
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/30975
• topic: Women in tech; Social constructionism; Narrative; Life-story interview; Gender gap; Organizational communication; Portugal; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Ciências da Comunicação

The purpose of this research is to explore how women in tech in Portugal perceive of the male-dominated industry. Following a social constructionist epistemology and drawing on the life-story narratives of four women currently working in the field, this research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the digital gender divide by analysing how women experience the industry. While the topic on the under-representation of women in tech has been internationally researched, the same has not taken similar precedent in Portugal. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and narratives were created with the intention that each narrative stand as a text on its own. Through their life-story trajectory, these narratives provide insight as to how the subjects navigated through their academic and professional careers. The results indicate that, contrary to the dominant discourse of women in tech industries, for those who have overcome any perceived barrier or obstacles, the subjects display high levels of job satisfaction within their line of work. It is anticipated that by examining these women’s perspectives, using a bottom-up approach, more strategies and recommendations will emerge towards the efforts of bridging the gap in tech related disciplines and fields