Skills: As skills shortages bite, IT industry stereotypes still
ring true.
Bill Goodwin
New evidence emerged this week that employers are failing to
attract women into the top IT jobs.
Women IT professionals are in jobs that pay an average of 15%
less than the average male salary, a study of more than 2,000
Computer Weekly readers has revealed.
The findings have raised fears that the brightest women are
shunning careers in IT at a time when the struggle to recruit
skilled staff could affect vital e-business projects.
"The problem is getting worse," said John O'Sullivan, skills
consultant at the E-Skills National Training Organisation. "It is
not a case of IT employers selecting out women. It is a case of
women selecting out IT. They see it as a nerdy, techie
profession."
Nearly 33% of male IT workers are in the top earning bracket
compared to only 18% of women. And 41% of women are in the lowest
paid jobs compared to only 25% of the men.
On average, male IT workers can expect to earn about £36,000 a
year, while women command only £30,000, the research by the
National Computing Centre, Computer Weekly and Gateway
revealed.
There are far fewer women in the highly paid IT consulting roles
and a greater number in lower paid rolls, such as support and IT
training.
A greater proportion of women IT professionals also work in
organisations that offer the lowest salaries, such as local
government and education.
The survey shows there is little difference between the academic
abilities of male and female IT workers. However, women are more
likely to have arts or language degrees, while more men have
engineering or science degrees.
Separate research from the E-Skills National Training
Organisation shows that women are less likely to work in IT than
they were five years ago, with the overall proportion of women in
the industry dropping from 30% to 25%.
The decline has prompted Andersen Consulting, IBM, careers
advisors, E-Skills NTO and other organisations to begin a research
programme to attract more female graduates into the profession.
The project, entitled 21st Century Women, aims to fill the
skills gap by producing women-friendly careers literature,
providing female IT role models, and arranging IT workshops with
employers.