Gallery

Why IT really is women's work

Posted on 16 Jun 2008 at 17:22

As the number of women in the computer industry continues to slide, Maggie Holland finds out what's gone wrong and why there's never been a better time to embark on a tech career.

Occupations in information technology might traditionally have been portrayed as "jobs for the boys", but with enlightened employment practices and several high-profile drives designed to bring more women into the IT workforce, surely that's now just a worn cliché of yesteryear? If only it were.

With only one-fifth of the current IT workforce female according to e-Skills UK, there's an even smaller proportion of women in the industry now than there was at the turn of the century. And there's little encouragement for the future, too, with women accounting for only a fifth of those currently opting for IT-related degrees.

Eileen Brown, manager of Microsoft's IT Pro evangelist team

Anita Moss, managing director, Edunation

There will always be jobs that don't push the right buttons for women, but while the IT industry is dynamic and fast-moving it seems to be driving blindly into the future with a conspicuous gender imbalance. Is this just an unavoidable fact of life or can the tech sector remedy the situation so it doesn't miss out on the array of skills and benefits that women bring to the workplace?

We're going to examine why women remain woefully under-represented in an industry the Prime Minister describes as crucial to the British economy, and discover why there may never have been a better time for women to make their mark in the IT industry.

Hampered from classroom to boardroom

IT's gender problem is all too apparent at the highest level. Look at the list of executives from industry leaders such as Microsoft, Intel and even the likes of relatively modern Google and see how few women are listed among these industry giants' top jobs.

According to experts, however, the classroom is as much to blame as the boardroom. "I think, perhaps, a lot of the school [technology] syllabus is not based on things kids will naturally be interested in," said Dr Sue Black, head of the information and software systems department at the University of Westminster's Harrow School of Computer Science, and chair of BCSWomen. "We need to be focused on teaching our kids interesting technology, in the sense of 'I've got this problem so how can I solve it using technology?' - even if it's down to just producing a simple website and then bringing in all the technology as you go along."

Rachel Burnett, president of the British Computer Society (BCS), agreed. "There seems to be a perception in schools that IT just isn't very interesting or relevant. The perception isn't only coming from young women. It's also coming from parents and staff within the schools themselves."

Once you move beyond the academic situation, the problem of getting women into the IT world is further compounded by the poor PR job the industry is doing for itself. The images of sweat shop-esque techie coding factories and fear, uncertainty and doubt regarding outsourcing are both making an already bad problem worse. "There are issues with people viewing IT as a techie, geeky career and thinking it's a bit of a dark art," said Maggie Berry, director of womenintechnology.co.uk. "Most people's impression is of IT support staff who say you need to switch it off and on again, when there's actually such a broad and fantastic - and absolutely business-facing - range of roles that are critical to success."