In debate

Women represent less than 25% of the information and communication technologies (ICT) workforce in most countries, and less than 10% in Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria. This share of women among computing professionals has either decreased or stagnated between 1998 and 2004. Why is it so low? What can we do about it?

It isn't that boys like computers more than girls, or that boys automatically prefer science: research shows that 15-year-olds of both sexes are equally likely use computers for learning or to be interested in science as a career. However this interest does not carry through: the percentage of female graduates in science and technology in Europe varies from just 20% in the Netherlands to 44% in Estonia. And although more women than men hold higher education degrees, the gender gap in ICT continues to grow, with the already small proportion of female computer science graduates dropping a further 4% between 1998 and 2004.

THE LEAKY PIPELINE, THE GLASS CEILING

Women in the EU hold fewer than 6% of senior engineering and technology positions in academia, and generally represent just 10–20% of delegates on scientific boards. According to the EC, this persistent under-representation of women in all areas of decision-making is an important obstacle to the democratic development of the European Union, to its cohesion, and to its global competitiveness.

Since so few women reach leadership positions in ICT, the industry has acquired an apparent male dominance in decision-making and management that further diminishes women’s interest in the area. The lack of female leaders and role models in ICT is one of the key reasons that women enter the ICT sector in lower numbers, and tend to leave it more regularly: the so-called “leaky pipeline.”  

Other key issues identified as barriers preventing women from choosing ICT as a career include the perceptions that:
-    ICT jobs are not conducive to achieving work-life balance
-    Discriminatory progression and promotion practices are still at work in ICT
-    Women are still perceived as “technically incompetent” and must work harder to prove themselves

WAYS FORWARD

The ICT sector has tremendous potential to achieve gender equality: it is a rapidly emerging, non-traditional sector where labour relations are still developing, and it has an urgent need to recruit highly qualified staff.

Best practice in gender equality is dependent on different cultural and socio-economic factors; however, the EC has suggested a series of policy initiatives that aim to stimulate the involvement of women in ICT across Europe. These include:

Improving equality and integration
-    Supporting the implementation of coherent equality and diversity policies
-    Addressing any persistent culture of discrimination and sexism in the ICT sector
-    Actively encouraging flexible working arrangements that support parents
-    Offering mothers returning to work after maternity leave appropriate training to update their skills and competencies

Enhancing the visibility and attractiveness of ICT
-    Clarifying and promoting the entry routes, job functions and progression pathways in ICT
-    Supporting and encouraging awareness campaigns about the social value of ICT professions
-    Launching campaigns to improve the image of ICT through role-models and targeted career counselling amongst high school students
-    Developing stronger mechanisms for the recognition and financial reward of new talent

Stimulating student interest
-    Ensuring high school students are familiar with new ICT applications and technologies
-    Promoting student participation in ICT research and development activities, student competitions and fairs
-    Better acknowledging, protecting and rewarding the intellectual property of junior researchers