In addressing the objective of this research the application of a feminist research approach has proved to be beneficial. It could be argued that some of the factors influencing the careers of women in IS/IT and the characteristics of these women may have been identified using a positivist research approach, and others obtained from the use of a qualitative approach. However, it is proposed that the findings have extended to uncover subtle factors and characteristics of individual participants that could only come from the use of a feminist approach. Central to this is the fact that the research was conducted for women, not on women. In addition, in the context of feminist research the extent of rapport and element of trust between the participants and the researcher is critically important, and in the research reported here it was clearly very good. Unless this rapport and trust exists then participants do not feel comfortable giving comprehensive, open and truthful responses. The high level of rapport and trust is evidenced by the fact that the only woman who asked to read the transcription of the data subsequently did not request any changes to her interview dialogue. In addition the remaining participants obviously had confidence in the researcher to the point that they did not even want to review the transcription of their interviews. There was also a general consensus that the women readily identified themselves in the findings of the research. This implies that the women taking part were given a voice and not just treated as a stereotypical group based on their biological sex. This research has, therefore, provided a new perspective with the ability to extend understanding in IS gender research.

A number of factors were identified that influence the careers of women in IS/IT workplaces. One significant factor was that of societal expectation. While this was acknowledged as changing, it can still place considerable pressure on women who are attempting to balance work and family in pursuit of a career; the requirement to be a supermum. The findings have shown that support was crucial for the women in their career endeavours. However, it became evident from the transcripts that sometimes the extent of this support was less than ideal. The example quoted from participant #4 supports this view. While she acknowledged the support of her husband, there was still an expectation that she was responsible for going home to make dinner. Potentially this could imply that while the husband was prepared to be supportive, societal expectation was still influential in that there remained in his mind a clear division of labour on the basis of gender.

The women contributing to this research were a highly intelligent group holding tertiary qualifications, not necessarily in IS/IT, but in mathematics, physics or science. They were willing and interested to take part in this research even though initially they were unclear about their role within IS. As highlighted in the findings, the serendipitiy sub-theme 'outlook' was arguably the most exciting result in the research. While a particular core skill set was not found among the participants, when those they had were combined with a positive outlook, the women, as individuals, were able to use adaptive behaviours to succeed and thrive in what was often a discriminatory work environment. The women readily acknowledged that they were a minority in the IS/IT industry with many of the participants dismissing the male culture dominance as of no consequence.