Women in Hybrid Roles in IT Employment: A Return to 'Nimble Fingers'?

Two key aspects of the Information Technology sector are the focus on clients and the 'new' organisational forms of teamwork and management by project. Both require employees who are able to combine technical and communication skills in the form of 'hybrid' jobs. We discuss the gendered development of hybrid jobs in the IT sector, proposing two overarching types of hybridity: inward-facing, tending to be done by women; and outward-facing, tending to be done by men. The 'boundaryless' career model, argued to be the model for successful careers in the IT sector, may link more to the outward-facing type. The gendered differentiation of hybrid jobs could therefore be one reason for women's segregation in IT employment and the attendant gender pay gap.