In computer science, women are paid less and less promoted from the start of their career

Three years after entering the labor market, young computer scientists are already undergoing wages and status inequalities. There are more numerous, too, to convert. This is revealed by an investigation by the Center for Employment and Work Studies.

In the 1980s, when the IT professions gained prestige, they were massively invested by men. Since then, the trend has not reversed according to Marion Flécher, lecturer in sociology at Paris Nanterre University and researcher associated with CEET which signs this study. Within scientific sectors, where women are already little present, IT remains the least feminized of all today. A paradox then companies in the sector have trouble recruiting. “”If the factors that divert women from technical professions are now well known“, The researcher dug another question: what did the rare female graduates in computer science in 2010, 2013 and 2017, three years after entering the labor market have become?

THE results show that they undergo gender inequalities from their first step in working life, even though they are overqualified in relation to men underlines Marion Flécher. More numerous they have had their baccalaureate with mention, more likely to have obtained a master’s degree or an engineering diploma. And yet, three years after their entry into the world of work and computer science, there are only 49 % to be executives, against 54 % of men. And the more the level of diploma increases, the more the gap widens. Among the bac + 5 or beyond, 77 % of executives are women, compared to 88 % of men. The study also points to salary inequality, even if it is lower than in other sectors. IT women earn on average, 100 euros less per month than their male counterparts, with equal characteristics, after only three years of professional activity. It is all the more inexplicable, says the sociologist, that in the very beginning of professional life, wage inequalities among women are not yet dug by maternity and career interruptions.

Another striking conclusion, 55 % of female graduates in computer science exercise a profession without direct link with their training, is 10 points more than men. Among those who change their business, 90 % largely move away from their sector of origin by paying the high price, moreover, since they find less stable and much less well paid positions. If the data on which the researcher worked do not allow us to know why these women have put their sails, Marion Flécher evokes the deterrent effect of the male inter-self. Many studies, she recalls, have shown that the sexist atmosphere that reigns in certain IT companies is a rejecting for women. As the trial of Ubisoft leaders recently showed, the French video game leader.