From Webgrrls to DigitalEve: The gendered practice of information technology work and organization

This dissertation examines DigitalEve, an organization dedicated to women's networking and advocacy in the field of information technology (IT) work, whose members are female IT workers.

The research is grounded on the relevant literature in three areas: women and technology, women and work, and women and organization. While the structural relations of power and privilege which shape women's experiences with technology, in the workplace, and within organizations are generally well represented in the literature, neither the positive experiences of women IT workers, particularly those for whom IT work is a lucrative, creative, and fulfilling field, nor their lived tensions and contradictions, have been adequately theorized. I explore these experiences using in-depth, semi-structured interviews with fifty-two members of DigitalEve, as well as two membership surveys.

My central thesis is that women's experiences in the context of semiprofessional or professional IT work will have particular elements which inform DigitalEve's values, structure, and practices. As an international organization which operates primarily virtually, DigitalEve challenges the relevant literature in some ways, but its situation within corporate IT practices, its struggle to define a mandate, and its rapid growth highlight many of the same concerns experienced by other women's organizations.

Many of the themes raised in both literature and primary data emerge at a particular point in the organization's history. During this research, a series of events precipitated a shift in the organization, and Webgrrls became DigitalEve. I use this change as evidence for my assertion that the organization reflects the concerns and needs of the members, as an example of some of the tensions which are inherent to IT work and organization, and as an opportunity to discuss in greater detail the structure and practice of the organization.

Finally, I evaluate how well this study succeeded in representing the complex relationship between the organization and its members: I reiterate the themes and central questions raised in the dissertation, indicate the advantages and limitations of this model of organizing, suggest some new directions for research on virtual organizations, and speculate about the future challenges for the organization.