More than half the women working in IT say they are not being paid fairly, compared with male colleagues.

And the gender ratio is widening as the industry fails to attract or retain female staff, according to the annual Women in IT survey published this week by trade group Intellect.

But attracting more women to the sector is vital to easing the perennial skills shortages and enabling the UK to compete, says Intellect programme manager Carrie Hartnell.

‘We are losing women from the industry at a time when we need to attract skilled workers into IT,’ she said.

‘Otherwise the UK will suffer by not being able to compete in the global economy.’
Although women account for 46 per cent of the UK labour force, they make up just 19 per cent of IT sector employees ­ a number which has steadily decreased since 2001.

And 54 per cent say they are paid less than their male counterparts, says the Intellect survey.

The UK needs women to plug skills gaps, said Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) policy director Anne Madden.

‘More women working is a prime way of addressing skills shortages, and the fact that we are not recruiting women into IT puts the UK at a disadvantage,’ she said.
But economic underperformance will not be overcome by simply attracting more female entrants to the IT industry.

There is also work to be done to ensure that those with jobs are employed at an appropriate level, according to the EOC.

‘We are massively underusing the skills that female employees have,’ said Madden.

‘We must make sure that once they are in work they use their skills at the right level and are not underemployed.’

At the moment the UK is not making use of the full spread of its workforce. Increasing the numbers in employment cannot help but boost innovation and creativity, said Madden.

In September 2006 the government-backed Women and Work Commission estimated that increasing female participation in the labour market, particularly in higher-paid occupations and roles, would contribute between £15bn and £23bn every year to the UK economy.

The effect of skills gaps on the bottom line is encouraging IT sector employers to address these issues, said Karen Price, chief executive of sector skills council e-Skills UK.

‘The changing nature of the expertise required in the industry means employers are keen to take advantage of the wider talent pool that women offer,’ she said.

e-Skills’ UK research suggests that gender pay inequality often tails off in higher-skilled jobs, particularly those after first degree level.

‘It will be interesting to see whether the pay gap will diminish as a higher proportion of graduates enter the workforce,’ said Price.

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