Communications of the ACM
Female Tech Staff 'in Decline' in the U.k.
A new report finds women make up just 16 percent of the British IT workforce.
Credit: Alamy
The gender gap in the U.K. information technology industry is getting worse, according to a new report from BCS, the chartered institute for IT, and E-Skills U.K. The Women in IT scorecard indicates women account for just 16 percent of the British IT workforce.
Moreover, the study found the problem starts early, considering girls consistently outperform boys in computing A-level results, but only account for 6.5 percent of test-takers. Girls also make up only 13 percent of entries for computer science General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSEs).
Meanwhile, the proportion of women working as self-employed IT specialists has doubled over the past decade, and women earn 16 percent less on average than men.
"The continuing decline in women entering the IT profession is a real threat for the U.K. and an issue that clearly we need to address," says BCS Women chairwoman Gillian Arnold. E-Skills U.K. CEO Karen Price also notes "this joint report provides the evidence we need to face the problem head-on, and to develop hard hitting and effective interventions to solve it."
From BBC News
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