e-skills UK hosts a 'Girls in IT' networking event
7th December 2010

On 7th December 2010, e-skills UK, the skills council for business and information technology, hosted a networking event at their offices in London for over fifty female IT professionals from companies such as Google, Goldman Sachs, Cisco, Centrica, Infosys and Logica. Apart from sharing skills, the event highlighted the work of companies such as Infosys and Goldman Sachs in persuading girls to consider a career in IT. Effective solutions to the problem of attracting girls into technology subjects ranged from hands-on programming workshops to video presentations, applications (apps) development for mobile devices, female IT roles models and a mentoring network. The event represented a renewal of emphasis on the 'Girls in IT' campaign becuase "for almost half the population to shun a career in IT represents a major threat to the UK's future prosperity", said Karen Price CEO of e-skills UK.

"This year just9% of A-Level Computing students were girls, while women account for just 15% of those on Computer Science degrees. It comes as surprise, then, that currently only a mere 17% of the IT professional workforce are women. The UK requires 21,000 new IT professionals to enter the workforce directly from education. But the number of girls opting to continue to study IT or embark on a technology career is falling year on year. Despite this, girls consistently outperform boys in IT-related subjects at school. The upshot is that every year that passes, IT employers are missing out on a wealth of talent.

"The lack of women in technology represents a real problem for the sector. Now, more than ever, it needs to be attracting the best and the brightest young talent that the country has to offer. Technology is at the heart of everything we do in this modern world and underpins every sector of the economy. e-skills UK's latest research has found that exploiting the full potential of technology could boost the UK economy by an additional £50 billion over the next 5 to 7 years.

"One of the key factors discouraging women from careers in IT is the negative misconception about the nature of IT jobs formed during or before early teenage years. Many female students are unaware of what an IT career involves and perceive the industry as male-dominated, 'geeky' and complex. 'Sitting in an office in the basement, like the IT crowd? No one respects them!' was the dismissive response from one 17 year old girl asked as part of e-skills UK's recent research if they would consider working in technology.

Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK said "In the current economic climate, the country is relying more than ever on the capability of the technology workforce to drive innovation and productivity. For the sector to be missing out on half the talent pool is a major concern. We need to do much more to promote IT careers to girls, and the Girls in IT campaign is a great rallying cry for the industry to work together to achieve this."

About the 'Girls in IT' campaign

e-skills UK launched the 'Girls in IT' campaign to coordinate the existing activity to encourage more girls to consider careers in IT and to increase its reach and impact by working collaboratively. The campaign is driven by a steering group that consists of representatives from IT employers, women's network and government departments.

Since the campaign launched in September 2010, it has attracted an increasing number of key figures from across the IT industry and other sectors. The campaign started with the backing of 13 organisations; it has since encouraged over 100 individuals from 65 organisations to commit their support. The campaign is baked by the British Computer Society (BCS) The Chartered Institute for IT, that has been supporting Goldman Sachs and Unilever's work in schools to inspire 10 to 14 years old girls to consider a careers in IT. Rebecca George, Chair of the BCS Women's Forum said "Girls in IT is a great example of different organisations coming together to collaborate on this really important issue".

e-skills UK programmes are already having an impact on addressing the gender issue in IT. 32% of students on the e-skills UK's Information Technology Management for Business (ITMB) degree courses are female, more than double the average for other IT-related degrees in the UK. 'Big Ambition', the careers information website, showcases female technologists working in creative and challenging roles both inside and outside of the IT industry. 73% of all registered 'Big Amibition' users are girls and 81% of users have said they would be more likely to consider a career in IT as a result of using the site. Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4g) have reached 125,000 girls in the UK, 84% of whom said that would be more likely to consider further education in IT or a career in technology.

For further information about the Girls in Technology' campaign.