Women in IT: What can you do to help?

There are far fewer women than men working in IT, and those that have chosen the career are likely to be paid less than their male counterparts. Computing is providing a platform to debate and begin to counter these issues

A new government initiative demands that companies with more than 250 employees publish their gender pay gaps. This is an attempt to embarrass organisations into paying women the same as men in similar roles.

It's needed because women are paid less than men for the same work across a raft of sectors, with finance a particular culprit. Part of the problem is that there is a higher proportion of men than women in senior roles.

This is bad for women who perhaps aren't getting the opportunities they should, but it's also bad for companies. Credit Suisse recently found that organisations where at least 15 per cent of senior managers are women, were over 50 per cent more profitable than those with under 10 per cent.

The gender pay gap in IT varies hugely depending on the role. According to research from recruitment firm Harvey Nash, female CIOs are on average paid slightly more than male. The situation is the same for IT Project and Programme Managers.

However, many other roles display a broader gender gap in favour of men, who are paid more than women on average in the CTO role, and earn almost double that of female colleagues in Quality Assurance.

And there's a broader but linked problem that there are far fewer women working in technology roles than men. This statistic doesn't look like changing soon, with computer science courses at tertiary level reporting one of the highest gender disparities across all subjects. We've even heard from schools about technology-focused courses without a single female student.

This is why Computing launched the Women in IT Excellence Awards last year, which we're proud to offer again in 2018. Entries are open now, but closing soon (Friday 4^th May!). It's free to enter yourself or nominate a colleague, so there's no excuse not to put someone forward!

At Computing we're committed to promoting and encouraging a more equal gender balance in IT. We're also running the Women in IT Forum in October, where we'll be running a raft of sessions on inspiring the next generation, and also recognising and furthering the female talent already present.

There is no quick fix to the pay gap and gender balance, but by championing the female success stories we know exist throughout the UK's IT industry, we hope to make a positive difference.