Attracting Women to IT

By Courtney Macavinta

Telle Whitney, president and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, knows firsthand that women are an essential part of the Information Technology world. Even so, she believes they aren't currently attracted to the industry at the same rate as men, and there are several reasons why.

"Often I think of it as the perfect storm," Whitney says.

The recent media focus on IT outsourcing has convinced many women, and parents of college-aged girls, that there isn't a solid future in the technology fields. Secondly, there is an image problem.

"If you ask both genders to identify what an IT professional looks like, the answer is still that it's a man with a pocket protector and glasses," Whitney says. "And there is a belief that you spend all of your time in front of a computer and don't work with people, but the reality is quite different."

This "image problem" -- combined with the high-tech downturn over the past decade -- has meant that women are indeed opting out of IT more often than men. The number of women in IT declined 20% from 1996 to 2004, according to the Information Technology Association of America. In addition, although women received about 38% of the computer science bachelor's degrees awarded in the United States in 1985, by 2003 that figure dropped to 28%, the National Science Foundation says.

The reality is that a growing number of jobs have an IT component. According to the Department of Labor, eight out of 10 of the fastest-growing occupations involve IT.

"This is where the jobs are," Whitney says.

Experts say CIOs can help close the IT gender divide and attract more talented women -- especially young millennial workers -- to their ranks by taking the following steps:

Step No. 1: Help make over IT's image
Women need to know more about the various roles IT plays in any organization or enterprise and about the various career tracks, not just careers in programming or engineering, says Christine Davis, a Cutter Consortium fellow and contributor to its report, The Defeminization of IT. Davis herself was a senior executive for Texas Instruments and Raytheon, and has a strong technical background.

"I think if women understood the variety of jobs and how much you work with customers and the creative side, that would be an asset," Davis says. "And they need to know that often there is flexibility, like working from home. I don't think the word is out on this."

This image makeover is especially important when it comes to exposing "tween" and teenaged girls to the future opportunities in IT, Whitney adds. Technology is fully integrated into their daily lives -- from MP3 players to cell phones and the Web -- yet they might not understand that they can play a part in creating, managing and marketing new technologies.

CIOs can play a role in bolstering young women's exposure to the IT field by encouraging their staff to get out in the community and talk about their careers. In addition, they can include video or blog posts on their Web sites about a day-in-the-life in IT to show young women all the diverse roles they can play in IT.

Step No. 2: Recognize and leverage women's strengths
More can be done inside organizations to unlock the mystery of the IT field and to reveal to women how their strengths could be leveraged.

"There are a lot of jobs in IT and they don't look like what you expect," Whitney says. "One of the main characteristics that companies are looking for is the ability to work in teams. Women often are collaborators and team players and many, if not most, of the great technologies today are developed by diverse teams."

Whitney's assertion is backed up by a March 2007 Gartner Inc. report, Women and Men in IT: Breaking Through Sexual Stereotypes. The report urges organization leaders to consider gender differences as a plus in the IT environment. Gartner recommends that CIOs in particular "design IT teams, work, opportunities, and management platforms for a diverse world." The report goes on to say that "these organizations can capitalize on women's insights, traits, and skills to help improve another culture's tolerance for diversity, thus opening access to a greater pool of talent, ideas and expertise."

Step No. 3: Prioritize mentoring
A key to improving the representation of women in IT is to improve the mentoring pipeline as well. Whitney suggests that CIOs also send their women staff or interns to conferences like those hosted by the Anita Borg Institute so they can meet mentors and learn more about the various career paths in IT.

In addition, CIOs can lead the charge to partner with schools or girl's organizations to bring girls into the workplace for tours or trainings. And CIOs can take care to reach out to new universities or community colleges so they have a more diverse talent pool in the long run.

Ultimately, Whitney says this effort by CIOs will warrant a healthy return on investment.

"If 50% of women became interested in IT," she says, "it would solve the problem we have regarding the lack of talent in the IT workforce."

Courtney Macavinta is a Silicon Valley-based business and technology writer. Her articles have appeared in CNET News.com, Business 2.0, Red Herring, Wired News, and The Washington Post. She also is managing editor of  The Online Family (TheOnlineFamily.net).