  Addressing women's under-representation in the software industry, a widely
recognized concern, requires attracting as well as retaining more women.
Hearing from women practitioners, particularly those positioned in
multi-cultural settings, about their challenges and and adopting their lived
experienced solutions can support the design of programs to resolve the
under-representation issue.
  Goal: We investigated the challenges women face in global software
development teams, particularly what motivates women to leave their company;
how those challenges might break down according to demographics; and strategies
to mitigate the identified challenges.
  Method: To achieve this goal, we conducted an exploratory case study in
Ericsson, a global technology company. We surveyed 94 women and employed
mixed-methods to analyze the data.
  Results: Our findings reveal that women face socio-cultural challenges,
including work-life balance issues, benevolent and hostile sexism, lack of
recognition and peer parity, impostor syndrome, glass ceiling bias effects, the
prove-it-again phenomenon, and the maternal wall. The participants of our
research provided different suggestions to address/mitigate the reported
challenges, including sabbatical policies, flexibility of location and time,
parenthood support, soft skills training for managers, equality of payment and
opportunities between genders, mentoring and role models to support career
growth, directives to hire more women, inclusive groups and events, women's
empowerment, and recognition for women's success. The framework of challenges
and suggestions can inspire further initiatives both in academia and industry
to onboard and retain women.
