There is no doubt that as much as we would have it otherwise, the world of computing is still very much a man's world. I have often wondered what made it possible for me to build a successful career in computing when other women find it difficult or choose not to try. Dame Steve Shirley, the first female President of the British Computer Society (BCS), tells the story of how in the early 1960s she had to leave the civil service because she got married. We don't have to deal with issues as stark as that these days, but it is still hard to reach the top as a woman in a man's world.

The IT community is responsible for a set of technologies that affects every aspect of people's lives and 50 per cent of people are women. So why are women so under-represented?

It is even more depressing that the number of women involved has declined, and the culture of the computer industry has developed a geeky, nerdy, male-oriented image that is so hard to break down. Of course women use computers when they become useful to them but they don't want to be involved in either designing them or the software that enables us to drive them.

So what can we do about this? When you consider the number of women on computer science courses at UK universities - at Southampton it is less than 10 per cent, some years closer to five per cent - you realise that even if we start now it will be decades before there are enough women coming out of university to make any impact. I am worried that this is such a deeply-routed cultural problem that if we had all the money in the world and could attack it at every level from primary school to boardroom, by the time we made any difference we won't need the skills that we need today. And of course it may be that women just don't like programming, or fiddling around with things under the bonnet of computers, or being associated with an industry with such a masculine image.

If it is going to take so long to turn things round, where should we put the resources and effort? I would look to the future and think about the skills we are going to need for the generation of computers after next.

In a decade or so we will be entering the age of biologically-inspired computing. It will be a world of trillions of relatively small processes all working together in globally-interconnected networks. We need to learn lessons from nature about how complex, adaptive systems such as colonies of ants work collectively to achieve tasks that independently they wouldn't be capable of doing. Another example would be learning from neuroscientists about how human beings manage to think associatively, and using that knowledge to build software systems that more effectively find the information you want from massive and globally distributed data spaces.

I suggest we stop trying to persuade women to be interested in careers based on computers as we know them today when this is patently so difficult to do. Rather we should look to future generations of computer systems and ensure that we seize this opportunity to change the image of our industry to one that women will be more interested to work in.

The skills that will be required for such an industry are quite different from today. We will need people with backgrounds in biology or chemistry or medicine - all subjects that attract women. If we work hard on this approach now, then I think we will stand a chance of attracting women to work in this new industry as it emerges.

Clearly women are going to be increasingly using computers as they become widely used at home and in the workplace, in areas that women care deeply about such as healthcare, education, government and the leisure industry. But this isn't enough. We need to get women involved in designing computer systems at every level. During my year as BCS President I have taken every opportunity to find high-profile women speakers for events, and to celebrate the role of women in our industry. But I firmly believe there is an opportunity to be seized here as we look to the future role of women in IT.

What our Agenda Setters think

Peter Lowe, director: information management and technology unit, Home Office

First, you have to identify the two types of 'best and brightest' people you want. The true IT professional and the hybrid IT functional leader. The IT professional must be offered the technical chances and growth opportunities with a complementary reward and recognition system that recognises their contribution and long term value to the organisation. The hybrid IT functional leader needs to be a recognised business individual who can bridge the gap between business needs and IT demands and can alternate between the IT function and business units. These individuals see the opportunity of working in IT as a stepping stone to overall career growth.

Tom Ilube, chief information officer, Egg

Today great technologists need to have not just technical knowledge and ability but an attitude towards the way that technology is developed with the customer in mind. I believe that we need to see a change in the way that IT is taught in both Universities and school. Technologists need to have more than expert silo knowledge to really succeed in today's business environment. They need to be strong communicators and they need to be able to understand the workings of the consumers' mind in order to deliver meaningful products and services.