By Jo Best, 16 September 2004 17:10
NEWS There are still not enough women in IT, says the government, and it plans to spend millions on tempting more of them into the industry.
According to Whitehall, female graduates with science, engineering or technology qualifications are choosing not to follow a career in the industry they trained for or are leaving technical professions and just not coming back.
Despite efforts to increase the number of women working in IT, the gender gap has only widened in the industry. Women hold a mere 19 per cent of IT jobs, according to research conducted by professional services company Parity Group.
To try and turn around the trend of male domination, the government is opening a new £4.5m centre, the UK Resource Centre for women in science, engineering and technology (SET), in Bradford.
A portion of the cost - £200,000 - will be devoted to stopping graduates in the SET from dropping out and encouraging them to take up jobs in their respective subject areas.
The centre itself will be devoted to getting businesses to provide women with more opportunities and also making sure the female SET workforce has the right skills to fill the skills gap.
Professor Wendy Hall, president of the British Computer Society, said that IT still suffers from an image problem of 'gaming geeks' and to successfully bring and retain more women in IT , companies have to make sure the 'macho culture' is banished.
"It's a macho environment but that's a chicken and egg situation... it's all about breaking down barriers," she said. "There has to be a culture change throughout [a company]... and management has to be committed to it."
Sylvia Carr contributed to this report
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. nigel perry
It is outrageous that the government seeks to spend £4.5m on this trivial issue when there are so few male midwives. For only £3.6m they could easily redress the balance in that vital skill, upon which all human life depends.
2. anonymous
I would certainly not encourage women into the technical IT industry any longer.
I have been in Technical IT for more than 20 years and when I started, employers were happy to employ a person with the relevant knowledge regardless of gender but these days, with a male dominated industry, it is all about the "lads club".
Over the past 10 years I have seen an increased sexist and ageist attitude develop with women being mainly given the administrative and documentation side of IT work rather than being put forward for or encouraged to deal with the technical and hands on aspects.
I have been in Technical IT for more than 20 years and when I started, employers were happy to employ a person with the relevant knowledge regardless of gender but these days, with a male dominated industry, it is all about the "lads club".
As a female in IT, if you try to become involved in the more technical aspects then you are either treated as an airhead or as aggressive but either way you are rarely listened to. Perhaps it is because so many men nowadays feel threatened by a technically knowledgeable female .....
Unless this childish male culture changes I cannot see more women wishing to enter the IT world.
3. R A Pearson
What a ridiculous waste of money. If the women don't want to work in IT then OK. Spend the money where we need it - hospitals, pensioners, reducing government administration.
4. anonymous
I am an investment analyst specialising in IT and telecoms. Most meetings, I am the only woman in the room, apart perhaps from one of the PRs. I also notice that my boss always asks twenty-something men to help with the PC - even though they are not tech specialists - because he thinks they will know how to fix it. Unless of course it's a word processing programs - women know how to type after all.
Have I just got too cynical in my old age? I dunno. But I do know that it's cultural issues not just pay and conditions that are motivating a lot of women to get out of the IT industry.
5. Charlie Cholmley
Professor Wendy Hall calls the computer males "Gaming Geeks" which seems to paint them as sissies, then goes on to talk about "macho" image in IT. Come on wendy. You Libbers want it both ways as always. Why is it so necessary to get these uninterested females into IT? Political correctness again? Let em stay in the kitchen.
6. anonymous
Yawn! This has been reported and reported again.
Look to speak plainly- bosses and managers can have all the ideas and initatives they like to try and recruit women into IT. They won't keep them there simply because they haven't bothered training middle management and HR (both sexes) that these people are valuable to the company and your sterotypes about people in IT are rubbish.
Yes I am female. I have worked for 2 companies. One where I felt appreciated for being in the company and the other where I was bullied by a female HR manager.