5. Gender Bias

Currently, the majority of IT jobs are filled by men. Considering women comprise almost half of the current US workforce, why aren't there more women in the IT field?

One possible answer is lack of awareness of the vast array of opportunities that exist in IT. A survey of IT professionals conducted by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) and U.S. Black Engineer & IT Magazine sheds some light on the subject. Sixty-five percent of respondents felt that women and minorities were either not aware or somewhat aware of opportunities within the IT industry while only eighteen percent felt they were aware of opportunities.^xii So why aren't women investigating IT opportunities while they are in school?

Historically in the US, we educators have done a poor job of encouraging our young people to pursue careers in math and science. This is especially true for women who during the 50's, 60's and 70's were steered away from these traditionally male careers. Unfortunately, this has helped create the severe shortage of mathematicians, scientists and computer scientists that exists in the US today. I believe we have made great strides during the 80's and 90's towards changing these outmoded attitudes. Nevertheless, we are still doing a poor job of convincing young women to pursue computing careers. Children's first exposure to computing is often computer games. A study by the American Association of University Women called Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age found that girls find computer games boring, redundant and violent. The study also revealed that girls find programming classes tedious and boring and computer career options uninspiring.^xiii

However, this presents a marvelous opportunity for women looking to enter IT professions today. Many organizations want to increase the diversity of their IT workforce and are actively seeking to hire women. At a panel discussion at Harvard University in June of 2001, Stefan Pagacik, an executive with LavaStorm, an Internet engineering company with offices in Waltham, MA and San Jose, CA expressed his company's frustration. He stated that senior management at LavaStorm wants to hire women -- in fact they would hire any qualified individual, but women rarely apply or respond to recruiting efforts.^xiv Also, as we mentioned in the last section, there is a smaller gender pay gap in IT jobs than in other types of employment. So why are women shunning companies like LavaStorm?

The culture in IT departments is a big part of the problem. Women are more relationship oriented and social than men and tend to look at the impact of a career on society. Linda Scherr, program director of IBM Women in Technology notes that women can easily imagine becoming lawyers or doctors because it's obvious what medicine and law do for society.^xv However, in computer science the societal impact is much less obvious. According to Linda, "In computer science, what's obvious is that these people work long hours. The role model is Dilbert, cubicles, dumb, geeky-looking people."^xvi Women apparently don't aspire to work in departments staffed by anti-social geeks, with open environment seating where guys play foosball and air hockey to unwind. Go figure. Obviously, there is a need to make IT departments and careers more appealing to women.

Women aren't the problem...the culture of IT is the problem. One of the best ways to help women break into the world of IT is through support groups and mentoring. Liz Ryan, co-founder of Ucentric, a Boston-based home networking providing, started WorldWIT (Women in Technology), which is a group of region-focused e-mail lists. An important purpose of the group is mentoring, but it also sponsors job fairs, speaker panels and networking events.^xvii Men still need to be involved and supportive since they hold the majority of IT management positions, but using women to help other women should be especially effective in breaking down barriers.

Unfortunately, a number of mostly male IT departments suffer from varying degrees of gender bias against women. This type of environment can be difficult to work in for some women. However, others thrive on the challenge of enlightening these "male enclaves" and bringing them forward to the 21st century. We all need to work towards making every workplace environment (not just IT departments) open and enticing to people of all genders and races. In IT, this will only come with hard work and time.

So ladies, find yourself a mentor and plunge right in. The opportunities are there for those of you willing to overcome challenges and swim upstream in the short term.