Stopping the Clock!!

'when you find yourself banging your head against a brick wall it is okay to stop” because it hadn’t occurred to me that it was ok to stop until that point…from then I started thinking that actually I don’t have to do this job’.

(Geraldine an ex Vice President of North America Office, 50-55 years old).

Throughout the autobiographical interviews that we conducted with the 'disappearing women' they recalled their life histories, interweaving domestic and workplace events as they remembered them, using changes in jobs, relocations, childbirth, sometimes illness and even deaths as timestamps in their lives. Each 'disappearing woman' talked of highlights in their careers but there have also been periods of despair which has for whatever reason led them to leave the ICT sector. Workplace hostilities factored highly in making the decision to leave the sector these included, though not exclusively, redundancy (some women experiencing this two or three times in their career) deliberate acts of ageism and caring responsibilities against burgeoning workload. But each woman could name the one significant event or the straw that broke the camels back, the bolt of the lightening which made her walk away from her career. Significant events were, instances of being so alone and and far away from home meant having to celebrate a birthday with a stranger; not wanting to be ‘a cog in somebody’s wheel’; being ‘blasted’ by management because of on-line distribution problems of a High Street store when customers did not receive their 'toasters' before Christmas, and being ordered to train colleagues in your area of expertise so that they can replace you and finally spending two weeks in bed after a car accident allowed time out for a period of reflection. Reported periods of reflection, ‘pressing the pause button’ on their lives, inadvertently allowed time outside hectic schedules to consider what they were doing and did they want to continue to carry on at such a pace, in such conditions??? The women we spoke to thought not.

Have you had a similar experience or know of someone that has been pushed or pulled away from ICT?

Please comment or email Marie on m.griffiths@salford.ac.uk