Women’s Career Development in the IT Sector in Argentina: The Effects of Vocational and Job Training and Counterspaces on Self-Efficacy

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Student Development (Table 2)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how Argentine women persist in postsecondary information technology studies using social cognitive career theory and the notion of counterspaces. Our data came from in-depth interviews with 29 women who were studying or had graduated from college and who had participated in vocational and job training programs as well informal online networks during their studies. We found that participants found support in workforce development programs, particularly those with a gender focus, and in informal online networks. Together, these counterspaces enhanced their self-efficacy and helped them persist.

Authors

• Veronica Millenaar, Universidad de Buenos Aires

• Virginia W. Snodgrass Rangel, University of Houston