Michelle Rodger: Never mind geeks, IT women hold the keys to recovery

Published on Thursday 9 September 2010 17:39

THE lack of qualified women in IT and aspiring to work in the technology industry could have a significant, negative impact on Scotland's ability to recover from the recession.

Polly Purvis, executive director of trade body ScotlandIS, says the lack of women in the sector is a real worry, and believes tech career opportunities need a serious makeover if this is to change. Morna Simpson of Girl Geeks goes further. She believes more women in IT would help Scotland's economy recover from the recession.

The IT industry is lagging behind other sectors in attracting more women into the profession.

Statistics show that women make up just 19 per cent of the IT workforce in the UK and despite the amount of IT workers doubling in the last two decades to 1.2 million, the representation of women has declined since the early 1990s.

Purvis believes the way forward is to prove that it is not just geeky work on offer, that it can be flexible, lucrative and "dare I say even glamorous", with lots of opportunities to work overseas.

The historic lack of women means there are very few at senior levels in the industry who can provide role models for the next generation, which also hinders any change in perception. It could be down to "uninspiring IT courses", says Purvis, who reckons the Scottish curriculum needs to be updated.

"We need to get the message across about the opportunities, that IT is a high-paid sector with lots of opportunities for flexible working. The sector is missing a huge trick. If we attracted more women, the industry would have a richer and larger talent pool," she says.

The statistics certainly don't portray Scotland in a particularly good light. Indeed, our performance is lacklustre to say the least. Women still account for less than 20 per cent of the workforce in technology, science and engineering.

Which is why the Scotland Women in Technology Group was launched last week. Aimed at attracting, inspiring, empowering and retaining women in IT, it's been hailed by those who know as a positive step for the future.

There are some surprising facts around women in IT. Or rather, the lack of them. According to the Women In IT Skills Scorecard from e-Skills, UK females consistently achieve higher grades than their male equivalents in IT-related subjects. A higher proportion of females achieve higher grades in IT-related subjects at GCSE and A Level.

Yet just 13 per cent of applicants and 12 per cent of acceptances for engineering subjects in higher education are female, and as seniority increases, female representation levels in academic staff involved in teaching and research work in computer science and IT-related subjects decrease.

Overall, males outnumber females in the industry by nearly four to one.

There's clearly a need to prove that IT isn't for geeks. Or rather, that being a geek is actually quite cool.

Morna Simpson, formerly a lecturer in interactive media design at Dundee University, is now focusing full time on @girlgeeks, a networking group set up to support women in IT. It's also about showing that IT can be cool for girls.

Simpson appreciates the value women bring to business and the positive influence they can have on the economy. She says the UK is a knowledge economy - knowledge and information sit absolutely at the heart of our economy and as part of the future recovery.

"That places technology at a very important part within our future recovery, so if we are able to make tech companies a bit more profitable by having women in those key roles it will be very important for economic progress," she says.

For businesses, the discussion about women in IT is no longer about establishing a gender balance for equality purposes; it is about bottom line performance.Ultimately what we're looking at is a waste of talent. Young women are achieving higher grades than their male counterparts, but aren't finding their way into the IT sector.