What about IT?
Why Women are Looking Elsewhere When Planning their Future
by Sali Earls
Computing magazines and websites are full of job adverts for the industry, and recent
research has indicated that we are heading for a skills shortage within the next year or so. With so many
positions available offering attractive packages for suitable candidates, why are only 5 of young women in the UK considering a job in IT? What is it about the profession that is so unappealing?
This is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, since the mid 1980s, the IT industry and academia have been concerned about the small percentage of women taking up Computer Science in university and professionally. In the UK, the number of women entering the field is low, and the percentage in senior management falls behind other countries.
A survey conducted in December 2004 on behalf of Telewest Business to discover the opinions of senior IT executives on information and communication technology found that of the 150 executives surveyed, just 18 were women. This figure can be extrapolated to cover the UK as a whole, and further investigation shows that 13 of IT workers in the UK are women, and in software engineering, women account for only 8 of the workforce.
IT has long been considered the domain of men, and this goes back to experience in
schools with male dominated computer clubs, and teachers with antiquated attitudes. From my own
experience, I recall my Computer Studies GCSE teacher insisting that the few girls in the class share a computer, while the boys had one each, and on more than one occasion being told to carry on
our work using a PC without a monitor. Thankfully, those days are behind us; but there are a generation of young women whose opinions of IT are coloured by bad experiences in school.
In 2002, the UK government and computer industry committed to recruiting and retaining more women in IT, introducing a 1m initiative to attract women into computing jobs, by encouraging young girls to use computers in schools; helping young women entering the industry; working with businesses to improve recruitment of women; and give advice to women who are unemployed, returning to work or looking for a career change.
Choosing IT as a career can be extremely rewarding
Sandra Smith is a seasoned IT professional with over 20 years’ experience, and is the first woman to head Toshiba UK’s Information System department. She manages a team of 35+, has overall responsibility for IS across the whole of Toshiba Information Systems UK, and manages the CRM and sales systems for Toshiba in Europe.
Under Smith’s
leadership, the IS team has made significant achievements, including a 25 reduction in overall IS costs, a reduction of 200,000 per annum on mobile and fixed-line communications
costs, the roll out of home-working technology delivering massive productivity gains and wireless office connectivity.
Her career began as a Local Government trainee programmer. After three years she moved on to Seiko UK and rose rapidly through the ranks to become IS Manager, before leaving to join Toshiba.
"I began my computing career with a technical role programming and then learnt about the environment surrounding it, which has meant that I have the confidence to stand up for myself because I do know that I know what I’m talking about," said Smith. "Once women are in IT, they seem to do well, so perhaps the problem lies in attracting women to IT in the first place. One possible reason that the percentage of women in IT is falling may be that traditionally, there were really only two entry points into computing, Operations and Programming. Women used to go into both of these in high numbers, succeed and then move on into Systems Analysis, IT Management etc."
"Now, though, there are numerous entry points. As well as the two mentioned there’s PC Support, Networking, Technical Architecture, Communications, Security and so on. All of these definitely have an image of being male-dominated, so maybe this is the clue to why women don’t go into IT - most of the entry points don’t attract them. Or perhaps there are just so many other careers available to women now that IT just doesn’t get a look-in."
Sandra is credited with initiating an IT staff development programme The Innovation Programme that has seen significant return on investment - both for IT staff career development and Toshiba’s bottom line. The companywide IT development programme has helped generate 6 million in reduced costs and new revenues, since the initiative was launched three years ago.
Initiating a support network
BCSWomen, part of the British Computer Society, was set up in 2001 by Dr Sue Black of London South Bank University to encourage women and girls to consider a career in IT, and act as a support network for women already working in academia or industry. Future plans of the group include visits to schools and colleges to highlight the many areas of interest in IT to girls and encourage them to take IT options in school.Research carried out by BCSWomen and international academics Women in Computing - a European and International Perspective has found that the situation in the UK is mirrored across the world and that the difficulty women have in overcoming the gap in job opportunities in the technology field is mainly the outcome of the cultural background that tends to create stereotypes of male and female predispositions for jobs that imply a high level of technological skill. Also the high pressure on performance means long office hours, and therefore if women are to succeed in this environment they are often obliged to sacrifice their home life in the process.
Sandra Smith of Toshiba explains, "As far as ’female friendly’ goes, there is definitely a conflict between sitting up with a sick mainframe all night, or flying abroad at 12 hours notice, and a traditional female role which might include childcare. But it’s not unmanageable, just difficult, and in a well managed IT environment, those situations should be a rare exception."
Beth Hutchison is a Web Services Architect at IBM, and a member of BCSWomen. She has worked in IT for 27 years, but came to it by accident analysing results as part of her Physics PhD, then following it up with science related IT jobs. Her career with IBM saw her start as a programmer, before moving through design and team leading and a technical post with responsibility for the performance of Java on IBM’s platforms before moving in 2002 to her current position.
About her career choice, Beth says, "I am thoroughly enjoying my career in software engineering, and want to persuade others, particularly women, that it is a fulfilling and fun career choice. I also want to ensure that within the profession women have equal opportunities, and equal confidence to make the most of those opportunities."
Beth has these words of advice to offer women considering an IT career:
- Take opportunities when they present themselves. Although my IBM career may sound like a smooth progression, I heard of at least one of the jobs in the pub, and went straight to my manager to request it!
- We all lack confidence from time to time, especially if we have just started a new job or responsibility. Remember that you wouldn’t be there if your management didn’t believe you could do the job
- Learn how to give presentations early in your career. Start with small pitches, then build up so that when you have to give an important pitch, you are prepared and relaxed. I wish someone had bullied me to do this years ago, I still get nervous!
Lucy Hunt is another member of BCSWomen, and Senior Technical Consultant at Getronics, where she has worked for six years. Following an early introduction to home computing, and an MSc in IT, Lucy chose to work in computing, and began her career as a junior developer at a software house in Yorkshire. Three years on and she took on her current post.
Like many young women, Lucy has faced challenges in her career, "When I first left university I wasn’t really aware of the sort of roles available in IT. I couldn’t have predicted where I have ended up today. If, when I started out, I had had someone to talk to about the various roles it would have perhaps helped me focus where I wanted to go."
"My biggest challenge has been my insecurity in my abilities - perhaps this is because I
am a woman in a male dominated world - or perhaps regardless of gender / career I would have worried! I got
very stressed during my first 4 or so years in IT - always striving to do a good job - but not always trusting in myself and so worrying I was messing up. As I have matured and seen others come along
and be in the same boat, I now recognise how I have grown in confidence and ability - and that I am on a learning curve just like everyone else."
She continues, "You can’t learn to a job overnight - and nobody expects you to. I now ask more questions, take on more responsibility but most importantly worry less. I know in myself that I do a good job. Taking work home and working all the hours that God sends is not the way to live a happy life. Work isn’t the be-all and end-all. To be good at your job, you have to care about the quality of work you produce - but not to the extent that it ruins your personal life / sanity! If I have too much work put upon me, I now speak up and try and work out the best way to solve whatever the problem is."
Not just a problem in industry
The situation in the business sector is mirrored in academia, with a reduction in female students opting for IT related degree courses, and therefore not moving through postgraduate courses and PhD to teaching and research posts.
Research undertaken for this article has found the numbers of female academics is very low in comparison with male counterparts. Ten universities were selected from across the UK, and it was found that 17 of lecturing staff are women; 12 of senior lecturers; and just 9 of professors - looking at the country as a whole that number drops to only 5.
One of those is Ursula Martin, Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London, currently seconded part time to the Computer Laboratory at the
University of Cambridge as Director of Women@CL, project to lead local, national and international initiatives for women in computing.
About Women@CL, Professor Martin says, "We want to encourage and support women engaged in computing and high tech at all stages of their careers, especially those who aspire to positions, by providing a supportive network of colleagues, training and networking opportunities."
Acknowledging the wider recruitment problem, Professor Martin has found that as there are so few women in computer science at undergraduate level, large companies cannot just recruit from computer research but have to target across the board to meet their diversity targets. By not bringing on women at the beginning careers problems are being created."
"Computing research is an exciting, important and social activity, and research transforms the world we live in. It’s about creating the technology we use every day, like search engines or mobile phones, or working with other scientists to figure out the answers to big questions such as how to get computers to recognise emotions, or what is going on in the human genome."
Professor Martin continues, "The business case for having diverse teams to tackle these challenges is clear: diverse teams make better progress. But the opportunities for effective, diverse teams decrease when there are too few women in leadership positions. We call it the frosted glass ceiling because it’s not that it’s unbreakable, it’s just that we have, historically, had difficulty in seeing through it."
The future...?
March 8 saw the annual International Women’s Day, and ITWales celebrated this with
an event entitled "Women Shaping the Future of Wales", with speakers from public, private and academic
sectors. The panel were asked to consider if women could really have it all, and after consideration they agreed that the "all" is different for everyone, and that both sexes have the right to take up a
rewarding and fulfilling vocational career, without sacrificing their home life. Diversity within teams is important, as Professor Martin says, and employers need to grasp the benefits to their business of
open minded recruiting, and family friendly policies.
It seems that women are attracted to Computer Science degrees, and IT careers in reduced numbers for a variety of reasons, ranging from poor teaching or childhood experiences, to the misconception that it is tedious or difficult career choice. However, when women do take the plunge, they often achieve great success in this male dominated arena.
Much needs to done to attract more women to the industry as the skills shortage continues, and computing continues to cross boundaries into other disciplines like media and psychology. Investment from the government will help, and initiatives like BCSWomen and Women@CL, with their objectives of encouraging those already in the industry as well as those contemplating it will go a long way to improving the situation. But the UK needs more high profile women in senior IT management, and academia to act as role models and show young women that they can have a successful and enjoyable career in IT.
The frosted glass ceiling is becoming translucent, but much more work needs to be done by both academia and industry before the next generation of women can see their way through it.
Useful links:
BCSWomenwww.bcs.org.uk/bcswomen/index.htm
Women@CL
www.cl.cam.ac.uk/women/
Aurora Women’s Network
A useful site with hints, tips and support for women in business
www.busygirl.com
Intellect
A link to the Intellect Women in IT Forum
www.intellectuk.org/sectors/it/women_it/default.asp
