‘I don't know why’ — Accounting for the scarcity of women in ICT work

SynopsisThe current state of gender in society can best be described as conflicting. On the one hand gender seems to have changed a lot but on the other hand it seems to have changed little. One area where changes in gender relations are visible is women's increased presence in information communication technology (ICT) work. However, women still constitute a minority in this sector. In this article, a discourse analysis is used to illustrate the resources to which ICT workers have access when explaining the scarcity of women in ICT work. The different discursive strategies discussed include attributing the scarcity of women in ICT work to factors over which the company has no control, such as socialisation, biology and women's disinterest in technology. It is argued that the use of ‘I don't know’ segments reflects the confusing nature gender takes today. The article thus contributes towards an understanding of the discursive resources on which people draw to talk about gender and how fluid, shifting and partly conflicting these resources are.