Male behaviours impact on gender inclusivity in technology spaces

Male attitudes are essential to understand what prevents gender inclusion in the tech arena. Although, companies have policies to help integrate women into the workforce, behavioural shifts amongst men are important for long term viability of policy change initiatives. Based on Sen and Nussbaum’s capability approach, the blog advocates for expanding women's fundamental freedoms and opportunities within tech spaces while emphasising the constructive role men must play in fostering inclusivity, as gendered norms are not to their advantage. Men's best interests, too, are furthered when gendered structures perpetuating unmerited advancements are curtailed.

Introduction:

Across the spectrum of workspaces, male attitudes can serve as facilitators or hindrances for gender inclusivity through cultural perceptions or communication practices that affect women's workplace experience. The technology industry has traditionally been male dominated, with fewer opportunities for women. The existing focus of research has been inclusive policies and diversity, but an overlooked aspect has been what role men and masculinity play in creating barriers to women's entry. Gender inequality in tech fields is persistent and affects aspects of retention and advancement. Men also hold disproportionate power in management structures. Male participation is critical to dismantling the patriarchal structures of the workplace (Van Laar et al., 2024). Research on masculinity in tech spaces shows how stereotyping discourages the younger generation of women from entering the industry. Changing this requires systematic reform and engineering a behavioural shift amongst men.

Male Awareness of Gender Bias

Amongst the key reasons that women are intrinsically made to feel unwelcome in the workforce is the lack of awareness amongst men about the structures of patriarchy they have grown up with. While men themselves might be victims of patriarchal beliefs, they are usually willing participants in their expressions in workspaces (Van Laar et al., 2024). Men are unable to process the realities of sexist behaviour in workspaces and teams and often take part in perpetuating cycles of harmful expressions. Khan and Bhattacharya (2022) explain that men often denied the existence of gender discrimination, while female colleagues reported inherent bias, lack of mentorship, and a discouraging workplace culture for women.

Unless male colleagues accept women's lived experiences, we risk making inclusivity efforts superficial. If addressed, the behavioural shift from men can foster a true sense of allyship.

Communication can be a tool for negative reinforcement

Communication is the direct way male employees reinforce gender stereotypes. These can be both verbal and non-verbal. Wynn and Correll (2018) argue that it is often in routine review meetings for technical matters that women are made to feel excluded or ignored, driving women out of tech roles. Men and women view destructive or harmful criticism differently, whereas women usually see them negatively impacting workplace functioning (Gunawardena et al., 2022). Code reviews, which are often stressful, are usually more harshly conducted for women, which demotivates them, reducing their likelihood of participation. If unaddressed, such micro-expressions which are invisible to men out of conditioning, will continue undermining efforts towards the inclusion of women.

Everyday male allyship and its translatory effects

Social exclusion negatively impacts women's ability to fit into a male-dominated space, which is why allyship becomes important. Allyship is broadly described as active support by a privileged class of people for underrepresented people. Allyship moves beyond agreements to actively engaging with learnings and action. Allyship can be expressed through amplifying marginalised voices and challenging disruptive behaviours by those opposing inclusion. Male allyship can be transposed to comminated spaces like the tech industry through advocacy and meaningful mentoring of young women and supporting inclusive policies. However, the challenge lies in sustaining the initiatives and advocacy efforts when there is a high turnover rate. This inhibits the ability of organisations and kinship networks that build up over time to continue the enabling spaces that challenge traditional power dynamics. Friendships acting as informal social networks play an unappreciated role in shaping the culture within an organisation. Research regarding male kinship networks indicates that men continue to form informally constructed exclusionary spaces that limit women's entry and retention in the tech industry (Morgan et al., 2004).

Practical pathways forward

The existing work on inclusive practices has focussed on increasing women’s participation through either affirmative action, penal actions for disruptive workplace practices or inclusive policies, but they do not address the behavioural changes that men must go through to give effect to impactful translation of policies. Men themselves must recognise the effects of destructive patriarchal patterns and how it is in their own interest to dismantle patriarchal norms (Anicha et al., 2020). Good practices like timely affirmations for a job well done and offering constructive feedback in a timely fashion and mixed gendered mentorship groups can greatly foster a move against subtle micro-exclusionary practices that women have traditionally faced. These norms can be institutionalised through team norms and leadership trainings that can trespass the frequent turnovers in the tech industry. In companies that evaluate leadership through assessment can also incorporate weighted value to for allyship and reward best practices.

Conclusion

Building gender-inclusive tech spaces cannot occur without male leadership's meaningful participation in the industry. The role of male leadership must go beyond merely instituting policy measures. Like the capability approach talks about, true inclusion is about expanding fundamental freedoms and creating agency for women in the tech space instead of just offering nominal equality. In male-dominated tech space, it is patriarchal norms that constrain women's capabilities and limit their ability to thrive and contribute.

References

Anicha, C. L., Bilen-Green, C., & Green, R. (2020). A policy paradox: why gender equity is men’s work. Journal of Gender Studies, 29(7), 847–851. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2020.1768363

Gunawardena, S. D., Devine, P., Beaumont, I., Garden, L. P., Murphy-Hill, E., & Blincoe, K. (2022). Destructive criticism in software code review impacts inclusion. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 6(CSCW2), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1145/3555183

Khan, F., & Bhattacharya, S. (2022). A phenomenological study to understand gender diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. Cardiometry, 22, 386–394. https://doi.org/10.18137/cardiometry.2022.22.386394

Morgan, A., Quesenberry, J., & Trauth, E. (2004, August). Exploring the importance of social networks in the IT workforce: Experiences with the “Boy’s Club.” AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2004/165/

Van Laar, C., Van Rossum, A., Kosakowska-Berezecka, N., Bongiorno, R., & Block, K. (2024). MANdatory - why men need (and are needed for) gender equality progress. Frontiers in Psychology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1263313

Wynn, A. T., & Correll, S. J. (2018). Puncturing the pipeline: Do technology companies alienate women in recruiting sessions? Social Studies of Science, 48(1), 149–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312718756766