Fewer women opt for IT

Citation

(1999), "Fewer women opt for IT", Education + Training, Vol. 41 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.1999.00441dab.009

Fewer women opt for IT

Fewer women opt for IT

Keywords Equal opportunities, Information technology, Recruitment, Women

The number of women entering the information-technology industry has fallen from around 30 per cent in 1994 to 24 per cent today, according to a report from the Institute of Management in Information Systems.

The decline comes despite the high salaries which abound in the IT industry.

Barbara Worts, information-technology training specialist for Pitman Training, commented: "There are some key skills such as communication, an enthusiasm for computers and an aptitude for language, facts and figures. Women have these in abundance. Do staff at the careers service and training and enterprise councils really know what skills are needed in the information-technology industry?".

Meanwhile, employment-services company Manpower reports that the take-up of training for information-technology contractors is rapidly increasing in the areas of software programming, networking and communication systems.

The need to beat the millennium bug has brought demand for skills not only in the mainframe area but across the total spectrum of IT. As mainframe programmers complete their year-2000 projects they are taking up training in the latest software products.

Small and medium-size firms are beginning to tackle the millennium bug, often by replacing rather than updating their current systems. This, in turn, also increases demand for new technical skills, says Manpower.