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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/cio50-2008/0,3800014745,39240485,00.htm

Female CIOs break through glass ceiling
CIO50 2008: Blazing a trail in a male-dominated industry

By Andy McCue

Published: Wednesday 11 June 2008

The lack of women in the IT profession is well documented and the traditional 'socks and sandals' geek stereotype of the industry is undoubtedly one of the continuing factors as to why tech is not an attractive career option for many women.

At the CIO level that gender imbalance is even more pronounced when combined with the senior management glass ceiling that also continues to keep women executives across all management professions out of the boardroom.

Figures from the UK's tech industry skills body e-skills UK reveal less than one fifth (16 per cent) of tech workers are women, while Cranfield University's School of Management annual Female FTSE Report 2007 shows a quarter of FTSE100 boards have no women and just 16 per cent of FTSE100 senior executive committees have women on them (although this is an increase from just 12 per cent in 2006).

But silicon.com's CIO50 2008 bucks that trend - almost a fifth (nine) of the top 50 UK CIOs in our list are women, with two making the top 10.

Highest ranked on the list, at number four, is Catherine Doran, director of information management at Network Rail, where she is responsible for an IT budget of almost £140m and defining and building the strategic IT direction for the organisation.

Tania Howarth, CIO at Birds Eye Iglo, made number eight on the CIO50 list and is described by those who know her as a "visible and inspiring" leader. She joined Birds Eye Iglo last year with a remit to essentially build a completely new IT infrastructure and function for the organisation after it was sold off to private equity group Permira by Unilever.

Many of the women CIOs on the CIO50 are in charge of some of the biggest IT functions in the UK. Ailsa Beaton, director of information services at the Metropolitan Police Service, sits on the management board reporting to the Commissioner and is responsible for an IT budget of £300m per year.

Over at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), CIO Heather Jackson is responsible for a budget of £1bn and an IT department of more than 5,800 people worldwide.

Other high-flying women in the silicon.com CIO50 include Yvonne Gallagher, CIO at the Ministry of Justice; Claire Hamon, CIO at Rok Group; Lesley Hume, group IS director at Atkins; Yasmin Jetha, CIO at the Financial Times; and Jane Scott, IT director at 3663.

The women in the CIO50 are great role models for young girls considering a career in technology - but e-skills UK still warns that new talent in the IT industry is "diminishing at an alarming rate" as enrolments in tech-related degrees continue to fall and women remain unconvinced by a career in IT.

The dearth of women in IT isn't also just a UK issue and the European Commission plans to establish a code of best practice for women in IT to tackle the 'leaky pipeline' phenomenon, where girls steadily lose interest in working in tech as they progress through their education.

And while things like the Computer Clubs For Girls initiative are doing their bit to tackle the problem, the picture for the future doesn't look good. The EC says there is a shortage of around 300,000 qualified tech staff in Europe and that attracting more women into the profession is vital to help close that gap.

Which is why the silicon.com CIO50 2008 is championing those women blazing a trail at the top of the IT tree.