European Business Schools Librarian's Group

ESSEC Working Papers,
ESSEC Research Center, ESSEC Business School

No DR 08009: Women's Professional Identity Formation in the Free/Open Source Software Community

Anca Metiu () and Otilia Obodaru ()
Additional contact information
Anca Metiu: ESSEC Business School, Postal: Avenue Bernard Hirsch - B.P. 50105, 95021 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex , FRANCE,
Otilia Obodaru: INSEAD, Postal: Boulevard Constance, 77300 Fontainebleau, FRANCE

Abstract: We examine the formation of women’s professional identity in a particular type of male-dominated domain, the free and open source software development communities, and more broadly in information technology. Through an ethnographic analysis of interviews and online forums discussions, we find that women experience two types of discrepancies or gaps that constitute obstacles in the process of identity formation: an image gap and an identity gap. We show the strategies employed by women as they attempt to bridge these gaps; we also find that some of these strategies, while tackling one gap, may also deepen the other.

Keywords: Gender; Identity Formation; Self-presentation

JEL-codes: Z13

40 pages, April 2008

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