Attracting the best researchers with proportional representation of women and men (eliminating the gender divide) is integral to the success of the European Research Area (ERA) and is crucial to Europe’s innovative capacity and global competitiveness. However, horizontal and vertical segregation afflict research careers: the two sexes are unequally represented across the disciplines (horizontally), and in senior positions within the academy (vertically) (Innovation Union Competitiveness Report, 2011; She Figures, 2012).

Women are in a small minority of academic leaders. Although 45% of doctor's degrees are awarded to female students, only 18% of full professors in Europe were women in 2009, only 13% of heads of higher education institutions were women, and only 22% of board members in research decision making were women. This pattern of inequality has not improved appreciably since then (She Figures, 2009, 2012). Women are particularly poorly represented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Within these disciplines one of the areas, where the widening gender imbalance is particularly acute, is Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

This thesis seeks to analyze the current state of gender and information systems research and to propose a research agenda towards the forthcoming decade.