Women in IT
It’s official! I’m an unusual person. Just 16% of IT workers are women.
Seriously, though, it appears that the proportion of women in IT is actually falling, as more leave the field than join it.
It’s official! I’m an unusual person. Just 16% of IT workers are women.
Seriously, though, it appears that the proportion of women in IT is actually falling, as more leave the field than join it.
December 1st, 2006 at 12:33
This is not too surprising, as experience in universities (I recall, without actually checking any stats) is that the proportion of women fell steadily from the time CS degrees were introduced. We tend to blame the introduction of computers into schools, with subsequent identification of them as “boys’ toys”.
December 12th, 2006 at 13:17
My impression is that girls’ schools leaned heavily towards CS degrees, with the effects that Perdita describes.
June 5th, 2007 at 23:42
I first got into IT about 20 years ago, and my perception is that the number of women has fallen quite drastically in that time, particularly in technical roles. As a project manager, I regularly find myself managing all-male teams. I think a lot of it has to do with the way things went in the late nineties and the dotcom boom then, when it became a very macho, long working hours and young field to work in. A lot of women seemed to disappear around that time.