Only nine per cent of IT leaders are women - no progress on last year

But female CIOs were more likely to have received a salary increase than their male counterparts

The proportion of women in IT leadership remains broadly the same as last year. That's according to the 2017 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey, which was unveiled today.

Only nine per cent of all senior IT leaders (those in CIO, CTO, CDO, or VP of technology roles) are women, the same proportion as 2016. There had been a three per cent rise between 2015 and 2016 in proportion of female IT leaders, signalling progress, but that seems to have stalled.

The overall picture, however, shows that the growth in the number of women in IT leadership is slow. In 2012, seven per cent of CIOs were female, in 2013 this rose to eight per cent, and in 2014 this decreased to just six per cent, where it remained in 2015.

The survey found that there were fewer women in IT leadership positions (eight per cent) in smaller organisations compared with mid-sized companies (11 per cent). Women in large organisations made up to 10 per cent of the leadership in the IT function, in line with the 10 per cent global average rate of women in IT.

However, while the proportion of women in IT may not be growing, Harvey Nash and KPMG found that female CIOs were far more likely to have received a salary increase than male CIOs in the past year (42 per cent compared with 32 per cent, respectively).

There's no doubt that more has to be done to increase diversity, and one third of organisations are attempting to do that with diversity initiatives in place. A further fifth (21 per cent) of organisations said they do not have any diversity initiatives in place yet but they're planning to implement programmes in the future.

Most surprisingly, however, when asked whether the organisation is formally promoting a more diverse team, was that 44 per cent of respondents said they would not put in place any initiatives because they're happy with their mix - even though female representation remains poor.

Introducing the Women in IT Excellence Awards.

There are a large, diverse range of categories, and anyone can nominate any woman in IT, for any award. Tell us, in 250 words or fewer, why she should win, and our editorial and judging team will do the rest. The awards will be hosted by tech journalist Holly Brockwell at a ceremony in London in October.