Conference paper presented to the Network of Women in Further Education Conference “ Net Gains: Women, Information Technology and Emerging Issues”, 22 March 2000
The paper examines the under representation of women in IT & T, why females constitute only 20% of employment in the industry. School age girls do demonstrate high levels of computer literacy but that is not translating into interest in computing as a career. The industry has attracted an image of being a stereotypically male pursuit which is an unexciting career path for young women. It appears that teaching methods in IT are discouraging girls from pursuing further study in the area and there is a lack of information available to school age students on what a career in IT & T means. The paper suggests some avenues that could be explored to increase the numbers of girls in the industry and lists the current government initiatives to try and improve the situation.
Women in IT - What are the barriers papers