Female IT employees ‘keen to develop political savvy’

Women who work in the IT industry feel inadequate when it comes to office politics, according to new research.

Findings produced by networking portal and on online job board womenintechnology.co.uk and Societe Generale revealed that 77 per cent of females working in IT do not feel they have sufficient skills to manage in a political context in their places of work.

It was also found that 53 per cent of attendees reported they had been the victim of labelling, stereotyping or sabotage in the office.

One respondent stated: "I want to gain the ability to analyse and understand the political environment."

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Meanwhile, other women reported they wanted to learn how to manage "the egos of others in a testosterone-fuelled workplace" and learn the difference between gossip and politics.

According to findings produced last month by the Durham Business School, homeworkers fear they may be missing out on promotions as a result of not being present for so-called "water cooler networking".