IT fails to close the gender gap

The IT industry has made little progress in cracking the glass ceiling that prevents women reaching the top jobs, with many of those in the sector feeling they have been passed over for promotions in favour of male colleagues.

A survey carried out by IT industry group Intellect and recruitment service Women in IT revealed that just three per cent of female IT professional had made it to board-level positions; only eight per cent made it to director level.

The picture is little different from four years ago, when the two organisations carried out a similar survey. Then just two per cent of women IT professionals had board-level experience and only five per cent were at director level.

The IT industry in the UK faces the prospect of skills shortages in the future and desperately needs young women to enter the profession, Maggie Berry, managing director of Women in IT told Computing. “But that won’t happen unless they see there’s a viable career path to the top jobs,” she added.

Firms need to rethink how they can accommodate women who may want to take some time out in the early part of their careers to start a family.

According to the new study, 60 per cent of female IT professionals do not have childcare responsibilities, while seven out of 10 said they do not intend to take a career break.

Because technology changes so quickly, many women fear that a career break will see their skills fall out of date, said Berry.

Unless IT can attract those women who expect to have some time off for their family, it will be missing out on a large number of potential recruits.

“As an industry, we need to find better ways to develop part-time roles that get involved with meaty projects,” she said. Too often, part-time workers get shunted on to less important tasks, where there’s less opportunity to acquire new skills."

See our Computing interview with Women in IT's Maggie Berry where she discusses these issues in more depth.