WOMEN IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

DESPITE THE BEST EFFORTS of
governments, education bodies and industry
players, the number of females working in
the IT sector is failing to increase, with men
seemingly not so keen on letting more women
enter their domain.
At present, women account for somewhere
between 15 and 18 percent of IT
professionals, a figure that the British
Computer Society (BCS), The Chartered
Institute for IT, said has fallen significantly in
recent years.
The latest findings from BCS have revealed
an appetite for more women to enter the IT
workplace, with 79 percent of the 771 BCS
members who responded saying the industry
would benefit from having more female
workers.
However, this total is skewed by a high
number of female votes. Only 67 percent of
males answered yes to this question,
compared to 89 percent of women.
This reluctance among male IT professionals
could no doubt be a sticking point in evening
out the IT gender balance, as women would
be more likely to go for IT roles if they felt
they were likely to get the job from male
recruiters, and be valued.
The gender gap was also highlighted over the
question of how easy it is for women to
return to IT careers after a break for
childcare. Only two percent of males rated
this as very difficult, compared to 17 percent
of women; while 22 percent of men saw this
as very or quite easy, compared to only 11
percent of the female respondents.
Men were also much more likely to see the
industry as offering equal opportunities for
both sexes, with 56 percent agreeing with
this statement, compared to only 22 percent
of females. Sixty percent of women felt men
get better opportunities than women, a
statement only a fifth of men agreed with.
Tellingly, none of the female respondents
cited better career advancements options
available for women, while only four percent
of men felt that women get a better deal.
When it comes to pay, 58 percent of female
IT workers think their male counterparts get
paid more than them; only one percent of
men answering the survey felt women get a
better deal.
The study also revealed that more than a
third of firms employ five or fewer female IT
staff, despite the participating organisations
employing 66 IT staff each on average.
The study has been released by the BCS to
launch its month of campaigning around
women in IT. However, here at The
INQUIRER, we think it'll take years rather
than a month to change the deep-seated
attitudes highlighted above.