By
Ayse Guner
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Female MIS students form club to overcome the obstacles of a male-dominated profession
Sitting in the front row of a lecture hall, Patricia Victory would often take the time to count the number of female students enrolled in her MIS 121 class. Her figures would fluctuate between four and six, but never came close to the number of males - around 40.
Then a management information systems sophomore, Victory would find that when she turned to look at the class, she saw all male students. When she turned back to take notes from her instructor, she saw a male too, she said.
In MIS 121, Introduction to Business Programming, the male population shocked Victory, but it was nonetheless representative of the makeup of the department. Male students in the program outnumber women 3-to-1. Similarly, there are 14 male faculty members, whereas the number of female faculty is seven.
On the national level, women make up 29 percent of the information technology workforce (one of the fastest growing industries at more than 2,500,000), compared to a 47 percent portion of the workforce overall.
Also, only about 5 percent of the 2,249 top corporate officers are women, according to Catalyst, a New York-based nonprofit research and advisory organization. Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard's CEO in Palo Alto, is a high-profile exception.
Often, being one of the only females in her classes, Victory said she would feel lonely and wonder if she was in the wrong place. By not having female instructors, Victory said, she has lacked the role models who would encourage her to enter into a computer-related profession.
With this in mind, Victory set out to explore her options last summer.
First, she searched online to find organizations that supported women who pursue careers in information technology. But thinking that a national club would not solve the diversity problems in her major, she then went to see the MIS department head - a woman - Olivia Liu Sheng.
Then, the idea triggered.
Now a junior, Victory, along with five other female MIS students, last month formed a group called "Women in Digital Economy." The group has already received $5,000 from the department and plans on directing $4,000 of it toward scholarships.
Although the group is in the early stages of development, members have set their goals on overcoming gender-based obstacles.
One of the problems that might occur in their futures, Victory said, is discrimination in the workforce.
"People assume that you just don't have the same strength and technical capabilities as men," she said.
The club will form a network for students, and eventually seniors will mentor freshmen.
One of the professors who worked closely with Victory in the formation of the club was David Meader, an MIS professor and director of undergraduate studies. Meader said he saw first-hand the lack of women in the information technology profession when he worked as a consultant and systems analyst in San Francisco.
"I have lived it in my career for six years," Meader said, adding, "it is just painfully obvious that women don't get represented."
As a result, members of the gender minority may be reluctant to express their views, he said.
"Women stuck with a bunch of men may be scared," Meader said.
One of the main consequences of the lack of diversity, he said, is that companies often forget their target audiences.
"People can become narrow in their views of the world and consciously or unconsciously ignore the needs of the people that are not like them," he said. "If you are not exposed to people, you don't know about them."
The male students in Victory's classes reacted to her idea calmly, she said. After all, there are other clubs around the campus similar to hers, such as Women in Computer Science and Women in Science and Engineering.
"I was afraid at first that the guys in my class would snicker, but they are very supportive," Victory said. "Men want to see more women in their classes, too."
One of these students, MIS senior Kevin Peterson, said the club should raise awareness of women's opportunities in the workforce.
"I can see the discomfort it causes, but at the same time they don't need special treatment," he added. "It can be good if it is run in a good way."
Last week, the Women in Digital Economy sponsored an appearance by guest speaker Susan Butler of the consulting company Accenture. Butler is the first woman to be hired as a managing partner in the office of the CEO.
Butler commented on the club as a "phenomenal opportunity."
One piece of advice she gave students at her speech, she said, was that they need to run after opportunities and be aggressive at getting jobs, as opposed to just waiting and hoping that opportunities would present themselves.
"I said to them, 'I needed to make something for me rather than let something happen to me,'" she said in a phone interview.
"Your career is in your own hands," Butler added.
In one of her current courses, MIS 331, Database Management Systems, Victory is working on a group database project. She is the only woman among a group of five men, and every time she meets with her group members, she said, she carries "that outnumbered feeling."
"It didn't have to be that way, but it is," she added.
