High Stress in IT Careers Cause Women to Leave

	posted by Scott on Friday March 16, @11:46AM from the news dept.
	I consider this very relevant news because of the way gender was portrayed in the article. Basically, it acknowledged that men are more willing to destroy their lives in a stressful, all-consuming job and that the high turnover rate of women in the industry is a signal that the job standards need to be changed. "Stress and lack of work/life balance in the IT workplace is taking [a toll on women]...Women in IT are the "canary in the coal mine" warning that the New Economy workplace is destructive for employees...IT managers should realize that what women are experiencing in the IT workplace is very likely a reflection of men's experience and that unreasonable stress and lack of work/life balance have the power to destroy productivity in the long run." Read the article from Computerworld at this link.

	Source: Computerworld [magazine] Title: Stressed-out IT women tempted to quit, survey finds Author: Kathleen Melymuka Date: March 15, 2001

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Career Convenience (Score:1) by frank h on Friday March 16, @05:01PM EST (#1) (User #141 Info) I'm not at all sure I agree with your brief assessment of worklife in IT. I've been working IT for five years now and have been working in technology for 22 years. I won't say for a moment that it isn't stressful, but I think women are looking for jobs to be re-designed to fit their preferences. I see the linked article as little more than a veiled attempt at justification for this by feminists. In my mind, it plays into the perceived wage gap that the feminists have weighed-in so heavily on. My assessment is that women find these jobs inconvenient to the notion that there is balance in the worklife/homelife equation. I read an article in, I think, Ladies Home Journal, where a bunch of female students responded to a survey about how they see themselves in the working world. I was particularly amused at the arrogance of some women who said they simply wouldn't work for a company that didn't support telecommuting, provide on-site child-care, and other accommodations. I got the impression that these women were never let in on the fact that maybe they'd be working for companies that couldn't compete, companies who would soon be gasping for survival. Lucent Technologies supports all that, or most of it, and look where they are. Personally, I establish what balance I can by getting up and leaving the office when I've decided I'd met my commitment. It has, I believe, cost me movement into management. I'm doing well and doing something I like, but I do not regard it as balanced. My life is heavily oriented toward bringing home a solid paycheck, not for my wife's sake, but for myself and my children. My wife works hard, too, maybe harder (physically) than I do. In my mind, the balance, for parents at least, comes in equitable division of labor. One party is responsible for obtaining resources (income) and one party is responsible for managing house and child care. Which role a man chooses is up to him and his partner, but I don't think for a minute that re-engineering worklife is the right answer. Individuals (men and women) need to put reasonable limits on their commitment to their jobs. They need to do it themselves; they cannot expect employers to do it. Employers will, after all, take all you offer and then some, regardless of your gender. OBTW, as for IT, I find it one of the least stressful jobs I've had. Ever. If it's inconvenient for a woman, maybe she needs to consider another career. I cannot for a minute regard nursing as a career option for myself. I imagine there are female nurses out there who cannot for a minute regard engineering as a career option. Each gender is gonna have preferences. Let them be. Frank

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