The ICT sector has been growing over the last decade and, since then, was resilient to crises (OECD, 2017), even during the Covid-19 pandemic (Bayer, Pauly und Wohlrabe, 2022). Due to digitalisation, almost all areas face a growing demand of ICT professionals, leading to a shortage of around 1.3 million, predicted until 2030 (World Economic Forum, 2020). This affects increasingly important areas of work, from software production and services (OECD 2017, p. 115) to encryption and cyber security (World Economic Forum 2020, p. 27). Companies are expected to adapt to new technologies and "re-structure their workforce” accordingly (ibid.). In summary, the so-called digital transformation not only affects core IT professions, but close to every industry.

Thus, meeting the demand becomes an overarching societal question. Given that "gender equality is essential for ensuring that men and women can contribute fully for the betterment of societies and economies at large" (OECD 2018, p. 5) there is still have a long way to go, considering that "men are four times more likely than women to be ICT specialists" (OECD 2018, p. 5). According to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), numbers of female ICT specialists in Europe are on the rise- from 17% in 2017 to 19.1% in 2020. With an improvement of 2.4% (from 16.6% to 19%) Germany shows a higher increase in the proportion of female ICT specialists, but overall remains below the European average.

The gap between male and female ICT professionals is significant all over Europe. Taking the capacity shortage of the sector into account it is obvious, that digitally skilled women are not only important for a sustainable society, but also for a thriving economy. The OECD (2018) states that digital technologies could be applied to raise awareness on "gender discrimination, […] dispel stereotypes […, or] to reinforce women’s curricula and participation in the labour market and develop women’s skills and abilities" (OECD 2018, p. 116). Referring to approaches of the social construction of gender, Kelly and Donnelly (2019) state that male dominancy in the ICT industry leads to a male cultural and systemic hegemony and a narrative which causes favourable and less favourable biases and outcomes (Kelly & Donnelly, 2019). These biases and outcomes influence the "nature of work and individuals’ experiences and behaviours" (ibid.).

The project "Women in IT" (F.IT) aims to create a supporting network to attract more women to the ICT sector at the local level of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The project is funded by the Senator for Economics, Labour and Europe (SWAE) with funds from the state and the European Social Fund Plus. Overall, the project aims to develop and provide supporting structures and the development of a gender-adequate education approach in order to reach women as potential employees in IT.

The focus of the current research lies on the companies' side of the problem. Women need to be addressed and recruited actively in order to (even) consider working in IT in the first place. Companies need to rethink existing job descriptions and identify room for e.g. career changers. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the effects the digital transformation has on work. The research questions of this contribution are as follows: What requirements do small, medium and large IT-companies describe for the target group of women without academic degree to enter and stay in the IT sector? What necessities for adjustments towards a gender-appropriate design of work processes do the companies identify and what solutions do they consider?

The overall research design of the project F.IT follows a mixed-methods approach to map the perspective of women, IT-companies and important stakeholders, e.g. providers of education counselling or federal institutions related to work. The research presented here can be located between a comprehensive regional state of the art and the synthesis of all relevant perspectives to develop the support structures and education offers mentioned above. Especially the second aspect needs the identification of relevant skills at IT-workplaces. Keeping the digital transformation in mind, not only core IT-professions are in the scope of the survey, but also other professional contexts, that may require specific knowledge, skills or attitudes. The so-called work process analysis appears as a promising approach in the context of this research. Following Howe and Knutzen (2022), the core piece of a work process analysis is a matrix, which consists of the categories legal requirements, operational framework conditions, requirements of the client, work process phase and procedure. The work process phase is divided into steps that follow one another during the analysis. They are named order acceptance, order planning, order execution and order completion. Work processes are located in all areas of the value chain of a company, whereby they can follow one another in industrially oriented workplaces based on the division of labour (Howe & Knutzen, 2022). The description of work-processes can be conducted at different levels of VET, e.g. syllabies, work-processes, professional action fields, learning and development tasks and digital tools (Howe & Knutzen 2022, p. 2). Here, the method is applied at the level of work place descriptions aiming to define the basical related competences that are required for persons interested in IT. Since the project follows a specific gender-related agenda, the structure of the research instrument was adapted. The final research instrument is designed as a matrix that allows field notes when observing regular activities at the chosen work places. In addition to the observations, follow-up questions are asked. The observation phase is followed by an interview with a process expert. If possible, the perspective of female employees is captured. The selection of the companies is made according to certain criteria: size of the company, broadest possible field of professional IT activities and strong regional reference (minimum of four companies). Leading questions are selected according to former operationalisations (ITB et al., 2018; Haasler, 2003) and will be presented in the long paper.

The research is currently on-going and only first impressions can be described. An important expected result related to research question one (competence requirements of IT companies) is the identification and clear definition of core requirements at different competence levels. At every level, necessary areas of knowledge, concrete skills and necessary attitudes will be described. However, it is not only the need for existing apprenticeships that is mapped. The survey also elaborates areas of activity overlapping with other professional profiles. Moreover, knowledge and skills that generally qualify people for entry into IT are identified. These action fields serve as the basis to creating supportive structures and education offers in order to make this entry easier. This easy entry is especially dedicated to women interested in working in the IT sector. In relation to research question two, results are expected in the form of needs for change. In the run-up to the survey, a large number of companies described their willingness to employ women. However, these women are not easy to find and the regular professional paths do not change the status quo. The expected results are the identification of alternative pathways, chances and challenges for cooperation with regional stakeholders from government and further education sector. Next to the qualification perspective, there are also results expected in terms of the company culture. This might also take the recruiting procedures into account. Limitations are given through the small sample size and the regional focus. However, the results can be an example of how companies and the surrounding environment can interact to address hard-to-reach target groups. Future research could analyse the effects of the networks and supporting structures to be developed on learning outcomes and hiring rates. Furthermore, there is still a considerable need in the area of gender research in IT.

Bayer, F.; Pauly, B. & Wohlrabe, K. (2022). Branchen im Fokus: ITK-Branche [Sectors in focus: the ICT-sector], ifo Schnelldienst 75(), pp. 56-59. https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/250866/1/ifo-sd-2022-02-p56-59.pdf European Commission (2022). Digital Economic and Societal Index. Female IT specialists 2017-2022. https://digital-agenda-data.eu/charts/desi-see-the-evolution-of-an-indicator-and-compare-breakdowns#chart={%22indicator%22:%22desi_hc_fictspec%22,%22breakdown-group%22:%22total%22,%22unit-measure%22:%22pc_ict_spec%22,%22ref-area%22:%22DE%22} Howe, F. & Knutzen, S. (2022). Arbeitsprozesse analysieren und beschreiben. [Competence workshop. Analyse and describe work processes]. Handbücher für die Berufsbildungspraxis, tradition GmbH: Hamburg. https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/625 Institute Technology and Education (ITB); International Shoe Competence Center (ISC) Pirmasens; & Gabor Rosenheim (2018). Integrating Companies in a Sustainable Apprenticeship System. http://icsas-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/O1_LSA_DE-version_Germany.pdf Kelly, E. J. & Donnelly, R. (2020). Navigating the gender structure in information technology: How does this affect the experiences and behaviours of women? human relations 73(3), DOI: 10.1177/0018726719828449, (pp. 326-350). OECD (2017), OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2017, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264276284-en OECD (2018). Bridging the digital gender divide. Include, upskill, innovate, OECD Publishing, https://www.oecd.org/digital/bridging-the-digital-gender-divide.pdf World Economic Forum (2020). The future of jobs report 2020. World Economic Forum Publishing. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf