Is there a place for Women in IT?

In response to a Computer Weekly article on a subject close to my heart ...

As an IT leader (male) I have struggled hard to ensure that my teams have a good gender balance to achieve the benefits of differing skillsets and aptitudes that both sexes bring.

I have struggled because it has been hard - there simply aren't enough women looking to come into IT, typically female applications would make up under 10% of all CVs received in response to a recruitment campaign. Achieving my goal of a 50/50 balance has been tough, but worthwhile.

 

Getting more women into IT is not about "equality", and the promoters of women into IT need to realise this and stop using the word, it's a turn off, it stigmatises those women who do work in IT, and it alienates those who might consider IT as a career choice by emphasising the current male techie dominance.

Women into IT is about diversity - different skills and aptitudes. A better balance of soft skills and technology, multi-tasking and singular focus, communication vs. mechanical, people vs. machines.

Almost all IT is used by ordinary people, yet it is built by technologists. The IT industry repeatedly fails to recognise that IT is a people-serving business and that the soft side of the skillset, at which women generally perform better than men, is not only essential but probably more important than the technical side. People promoting the role of women into IT need to move away from the equality balance and focus on quality improvement - including more women in IT, until a gender balance is achieved, is a simple and effective way of ensuring that the IT delivered is of better quality and more closely meets the needs of its users.

 

I really believe that last paragraph - my experiences have repeatedly demonstrated it to be true. More women in IT means better quality output, a more harmonious relationship between IT and its users, and consequent reductions in the cost of providing IT. A male dominated IT team is always a bad thing.