1 Abstract—The purpose of the current article is to reveal misconceptions about ICT occupations that keep females away from the field. The study focuses on the three phases in one’s career life cycle: pre-university, university and workplace with the aim of investigating how to attract more females into an ICT-related career. By studying nearly 300 secondary school graduates, 102 university students and 18 female ICT specialists, the study revealed six myths that influence the decision-making process of young girls in pursuing an ICT-related education and career. Furthermore, discriminating conception of ICT as a primarily man’s world is developed before the university period. Stereotypical barriers should be brought out to the public debate, so that a remarkable proportion of possible employees (women) would not stay away from the tech-related fields. Countries could make a remarkable leap in efficiency, when turning their attention to the gender-related issues in the labour market structure. Keywords—ICT, women, education, stereotypes, computers. I. INTRODUCTION EMALE underrepresentation in the ICT sector has provided an input for various research. Studies from the past years have revealed a disturbing truth – for every 1,000 women with a bachelor degree in Europe, only 29 have gained it in ICT (compared to 95 men) and only four will eventually work in the ICT sector (compared to 20 men). (Women active in the ICT sector, 2013) Female underrepresentation in the ICT sector has provided an input for various research. Some studies have turned their attention to the gender segregation issues of the ICT sector [33], [29], [7] others investigate early influences of career choice [2], female low enrolment [14] or dropout from the ICT study programs [26], [6], [32] or ICT-related career and the effect of events in female life cycles on the career progression [42], [26], [44]. In addition, great efforts have been put in developing effective strategies or signposting best practices to improve the female participation rate in ICT studies and career [9], [11], [25]. Overall, research on how to attract women into ICT-related fields has become an important and very practical issue. For some time now, staffing shortfalls are the main challenge to a high number of ICT companies. As females make up roughly half of the possible existing workforce, investment in activities that contribute to the promotion career possibilities in the ICT sector is inevitable. Thus, during the past years several studies Eneli Kindsiko, PhD is with the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu,Estonia (E-mail: eneli.kindsiko@ut.ee). Kulno Türk, Prof. is with the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu, Estonia. have been signposting the strategic importance of attracting more women to the ICT-related curricula and workforce [19], [41]. There are two prevailing theories that seek to explain the scarcity of females among the ICT workforce – essentialist and social construction theory [43]. Essentialism suggests that female interest in ICT is lower because men and women are biologically different, thus also their attitude to specific fields differ. In other words, men have biologically determined characteristics that make them more suitable for ICT work [24]. The second stream of thought, social construction theory, claims that the social construction of ICT is as a man’s field, but in general, stereotypical thinking is what keeps females away from ICT. The current paper proposes a middle-ground approach, stating that there are biologically determined differences among the two genders, and social construction of a specific field as a “man’s world” or “woman’s world” is fuelled by these biological differences, but also, is most of all built on the first-mover advantage. Since the early developments of the ICT field have been overproportionally covered by males, the field itself has been socially constructed as masculine. This has made it more difficult or scary for females to enter and fit in as latecomers. Being a latecomer into a field is the main reason why countries should make more informed efforts in developing means to increase female participation in ICT. This paper acknowledges that investigation of reasons why females are not attracted to ICT-based occupations traces back to very early phases of life – back to school. It has been acknowledged how the scarcity of females in the ICT sector is the result of females gaining less experience with computers during the earlier stages of life [28]. In addition, there exists a remarkable pool of female students who might be attracted to ICT-related studies and career, given that they gain enough encouragement and better information regarding the opportunities that ICT can offer [25]. II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Previous studies have brought forward a group of reasons why there are disproportionally less females than men in the ICT sector [20]: cultural traditions and stereotypes, internal barriers (features specific to females) and external barriers (features specific to the ICT sector). Detecting Major Misconceptions about Employment in ICT: A Study of the Myths about ICT Work among Females Eneli Kindsiko, Kulno Türk F World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Vol:11, No:1, 2017 107 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 11(1) 2017 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/10006117 International Science Index, Humanities and Social Sciences Vol:11, No:1, 2017 waset.org/Publication/10006117