BCS Edinburgh

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Women in technology whats the problem?
BCS Edinburgh 11th March 2009 Heather Jackson.

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contents . . .

• Problem . . .
• Why???
• Actions

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Problem
the problemthe absence of the IT Girl

• 21 of computing graduates are female

• 16 of the UK IT workforce are women

• 9 of IT development jobs are held by women

• 26 of the US IT workforce are women

• 25 of computer science graduates were women in
  2004

• 20 of the Australian IT workforce are women

• 18 of all IT grads were women

Trends show a worsening position . . .
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Problem
the problemthe exodus of the IT Girl

• UK - Since 2001, the number of female IT
  professionals has dropped 6

• Australia From 2001 to 2007 the number of women
  enrolling in undergraduate studies in IT has
  declined from 24 to 18

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the problemthe exodus is industry wide
Problem
Finding of a 2007 study conducted by CIO Insight
on statistics provided by the Bureau of Labor, US.
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the problemthe headlines
Problem
What is it about - girls and IT? Despite women
being heavy users of IT why do they avoid
studying it? Financial Times, May 2008
Women in IT paid 20 percent less than
men Zdnet.com, February 2008
Lack of women in IT is bad news for business
performance Computing.com, May 2008
Less geek more chic is the way
forward Lindsey  Armstrong of salesforce.com
gives her prescription for raising the number of
women in the industry. Financial Times, May 2008
Women must ask for pay rises to fight IT gender
gap Male IT staff currently earn an average of
720 a week, while female staff earn around
500. Computer Weekly, January 2009
Women falling out of love with IT
Since 2001, the number of female IT professionals
has dropped 6.
Computer Weekly, November 2008
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Problem
the emerging economies . . .

• Since 1991, Women have consistently constituted
  at least 50 of the student population in
  computer science at most universities, and a
  substantial part of the teaching faculty are
  women.
• The Malaysian software industry is comprised of
  30 women

Malaysia

• Women now account for close to 30 of the total
  workforce in Indias IT industry this figure is
  set to increase to 45 within the next two years

India

• 80-90 of the ICT faculty staff at Thai
  universities are female
• Since 1996, there has been more women embarking
  on IT related degrees than men.

Thailand

• The Brazilian software industry is comprised of
  20 women

Brazil
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Problem
problem summary . . .

• Women are under represented in the IT workplace
  in the UK, Europe and North America

• More women are leaving IT than joining

• Many emerging nations have much higher proportion
  of women in IT and the trend is for this to
  increase rapidly

So why has the western world experience a decline
in female participation in IT in contrast to
emerging countries??
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Why
male dominated . . .

• IT perceived and portrayed as very masculine in
  the Western World.
• Computer related advertisements male orientated
• Old boys network
• Social perception - women and computers dont
  mix. Men and computers do
• The growth of this masculine perception over the
  past two decades has mirrored a decline in female
  participation
• In emerging countries such as Malaysia, there is
  a clear absence of the male-association to
  computing. New, exiting and non-gender specific

Hackers (1995)
IT and Computer culture has become synonymous
with masculinity in Western Nations
The IT Crowd (Channel 4)
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lack of role models and impact of self image . . .
Why

• All the heads of departments as well as the Dean
  were women in the Computer Science department at
  the University of Malaya, this means there are a
  variety of role models for the women students.
  Dr. Vivian A. Lagesan, Women attracted to IT in
  Malaysia

• Vicious Circle without female role models,
  fewer women will be attracted to IT. With few
  women being attracted to IT, fewer IT role models
  will be established.

• Do recruiting IT managers recruit and attract
  according to their self image?

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Why
pay gap and lack of flexibility . . .

• Women in IT are paid on average 12 less than men
  in the US
• Salaries for men increased by 2.4 in 2007 but
  stayed flat for women

• Women in IT on average are paid 20 less than men
  in IT in the UK
• Male IT staff currently earn an average of 720 a
  week, while female staff earn around 500

IT industry does not do enough to support women
and in their roles as mothers

• Women who want to have families may struggle to
  get back into IT following a career break
• Rapid advances in IT over a relatively short time
  period may deter women from resuming their career
  as they may feel out of their depth given the
  huge level of change

IT simply is not an attractive proposition for
many women
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Why
women have different skills . . .
Women
Men

• Aggressive
• Score highly in complex mental visualisation
  pattern spotting tasks
• Have better spatial awareness
• More inclined to take risk which contributes to
  innovation competitiveness
• More focused
• Think linear
• Focus on rules and the short-term - "step
  thinking"
• Confidence men excel at telling how great they
  are
• Visibility promote themselves
• Take risks
• Plan careers
• Play politics
• Men have long established networks

• Better at verbal fluency - speak twice as many
  words as men
• Better bilateral brain involvement in listening,
  combining left brain thinking with right brain
  thinking simultaneously
• Women gather more data
• Consider the context
• Are intuitive
• Have a sympathising mind
• Think more long-term
• Lack confidence dont discuss their on merits
  and broadcast their limitations
• Visibility have lower profiles than their male
  counterparts
• Are risk averse
• Tend to let their careers happen
• Dont play politics
• Women dont have long established networks to tap
  in to

Initially these skills may not seem well aligned
to IT . . .
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the way forward
Action
Buddying for women who take a career break
what matters is that work gets done where or
at what time it gets done doesnt matter.
Maternity Matters to retain female employees
embarking on motherhood. 98 of new mothers
return to work at Citi.
has introduced Group Crèches to counter the cost
of childcare
offered parenting classes at lunchtime
developed the FTSE 100 cross-mentoring programme
have a global partnership with the Womens Forum
for the Economy and Society to promote womens
contribution to society and encourage diversity
in the business world.
This action does not feel enough
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the way forward
Action
The Solution
The Challenge

• Encouraging girls at school that a career in IT
  is an option
• Remove the perception that a career in IT is
  geeky
• Prevent males recruiting their self-image
• Education using IT as mainstream in more
  subjects

Attracting

• Support from the top (both men and women)
• Successful women actively mentoring females.
• Targeted development for women in IT
• Work closely with organisations such as Women in
  Technology which provide a useful support
  mechanism

Developing

• Flexible working hours, encouraging women to
  return to work
• The more women in IT the more female
  orientated the environment should become

Retaining
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this has to be addressed
Action

• The Future landscape
• Diverse organisations have proven that they are
  more successful
• A report by the European Commission showed that
  diversity programmes have had a positive impact
  on employee motivation for 58 of companies that
  have implemented them.
• A recent Mckinsey report Women Matter showed
  that companies with most gender diverse
  management teams have better financial
  performance in terms of ROE and Stock Price
  growth.
• The shifting needs for great IT in a business
  require greater innovation and creativity
• India and the developing economies dont have our
  historic drag
• The younger generation of women in India is
  expected to achieve educational parity with men
  by 2016
• In 2010, women are likely to claim 45 per cent of
  the total workforce for the IT Industry in India.

What is the price for IT in the developed world
if we dont address this?