Unpacking the Nordic Gender Equality Paradox in ICT Research and Innovation
Hilde G. Corneliussen
2021
Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics
Norway and its Nordic neighbours are recognised as the most egalitarian countries in the world according to international ratings (Teigen and Skjeie, 2017; World Economic Forum, 2020). There is, however, still notable gender segregation, identified as vertical segregation where few women are in top positions and horizontal segregation with gender division between occupations and disciplines, a pattern that appears to be in conflict with the perception of gender equality as a widespread and
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... ted value (Ellingsaeter, 2014; Sund, 2015) . Furthermore, the notion of paradox is often invoked in international comparisons where certain types of gender segregation seem to be more extreme in highly gender egalitarian and affluent countries (Chow and Charles, 2019; Stoet and Geary, 2018) , often referred to as a Nordic gender equality or gender diversity paradox (Minelgaite et al., 2020) . In this article we will unpack the Nordic gender equality paradox in relation to the horizontal segregation recognised in fields of information and communication technology (ICT), where the paradox is entangled with the yet unsolved question of why women are still underrepresented in most ICT disciplines and jobs. Supported by research and theories from feminist technology studies and studies of gender segregation in working life, this study explores how the low proportion of women in ICT training, education, and employment translates into a paradox in affluent and gender-equal Nordic countries with Norway as an example. The rhetoric of the paradox is a strategic starting point for studying why the national gender equality regime fails to reach contexts of ICT, as it claims to identify important features explaining women's underrepresentation in ICT. International analyses of the paradox often involve three features. The first is an analytical framework in which a national gender equality regime is used as the horizon for explaining individual citizens' choices. The second is national affluence, used as a reference point for gender-stereotypical career choices. The third is an assumption that gender-equal countries promoting free choices put women's choices at the centre of the paradox, suggesting that the continuous gender imbalance in fields such as ICT mainly reflects women's preferences. Below we will explore the validity of these features as we revisit research on women's underrepresentation in ICT with a particular focus on women's entry points to ICT, in order to unpack how the paradox is shaped and reproduced across contexts of ICT. The development of this study emerges from Nordwit, the Nordic Centre of Excellence on women in technology-driven careers, and the recognition of the challenge to recruit women to ICT careers (McKinney et al., 2008) . This includes not only early-stage recruitment; recent research has shown that women often find alternative Feminist Encounters: A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics, 5(2), 25 ABSTRACT Most fields of technology-driven research and innovation are highly male-dominated across the Western world. However, in the Nordic countries, recognised as the most gender equal in the world, this gender segregation appears as a paradox. With Norway as an example, the present article explores the paradox that appears to be entangled with the yet unsolved question of why women are still a minority in information and communication technology (ICT) disciplines. The analysis draws examples from five studies of girls and women in contexts of ICT training, education, and work to analyse the fabric of the paradox through the 'free choice' argument, 'affluent nations' argument, and 'nation vs. individual women' argument. The analysis suggests that the paradox, by putting the nation's gender equality ideal against atomized individuals' choices, contributes to obscuring the situation regarding the underrepresentation of women in ICT. routes to developing their ICT competence and expertise (Hyrynsalmi and Hyrynsalmi, 2019; Lyon and Green, 2020) , some at later stages in their career (Cajander et al., 2020; Corneliussen, 2020) . This suggests that the contexts for raising girls' and women's engagement in ICT careers are many. ICT disciplines in social sciences and humanities often attract a higher proportion of women than ICT disciplines in faculties of science and technology (Corneliussen, 2011) . Disciplines focusing on programming and more technical aspects of computing often have the lowest proportion of women (Samordna opptak, 2020). Research shows that the perceptions of programming are more affected by gender stereotypes than those of many other fields of ICT (Corneliussen, 2020) . The studies revisited here involve various fields of ICT training and education that include either programming or ICT disciplines in science and technology faculties. The analysis draws examples from five studies of girls and women in contexts of ICT training, education, and work to analyse the fabric of the paradox through the 'free choice' argument, 'affluent nations' argument, and 'nation vs. individual women' argument. Revisiting these studies will help to identifying the validity of the rhetoric of the paradox when confronted by empirical examples.
doi:10.20897/femenc/11162
fatcat:rbs4fnizxvaepgfpmgqj2gmw24