ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Infrastructure / Systems Management

The myths and reality of women in IT

By Will Sturgeon, Silicon.com, 2 April, 2003 08:47

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

Topics

CIO, E-commerce, manager, chief executive officer, old boys network, Women

NEWS
This year's silicon.com Skills Survey has thrown up a number of surprising results, but one area where it was difficult to make predictions was with the role of women in the IT workplace. In total, 13 percent of 3,830 respondents to this year's survey were women -- down on last year's figure of 15.3 percent. While some people still think of the female techie as a myth of Bigfoot proportions this result shows that women are established in the high-tech sector. More specifically, of those female respondents 17.2 percent currently work as IT managers, 11.9 percent work as IT consultants and 4.5 percent hold the post of IT director or chief information officer -- showing that the once male-dominated world of high-tech may be starting to lose its single-sex status, even among some of the most senior roles. While it is clearly true that fewer women are working in IT, for reasons outside the remit of this survey, those who are in the workforce appear to be enjoying near parity with their male colleagues in terms of percentage representation in certain sectors. The demographics of the IT manager and vendor categories reveal the closest comparative figures. While 17.2 percent of the women surveyed work as IT managers, the figure for men is 20 percent. Of all our respondents, 3.3 percent of women work for a vendor, while the figure for men is 3.8 percent. In fact one position where women appear to have the upper hand is that of e-commerce director/manager. With e-commerce still a relatively recent addition to many companies offerings it may be that such posts may be safeguarded from the cronyism and 'old boys' network that are inherent in appointing people to more traditional roles. And indeed there is still some way to go before we talk about true equality across the board. Where the gulf starts to widen is with the more senior positions. While 4.5 percent of female respondents are currently in board director positions, the figure for male respondents is 8 percent. However, the gulf between men and women is perhaps greatest in terms of salary. The majority of female respondents -- 68.5 percent -- are earning less than £40,000 per year, with almost a third -- 32.3 percent -- earning less than £25,000. For men, the money is far better. While the majority still earn less than £40,000 per year the actual figure, 54.8 percent, is much lower and there are far fewer -- 20 percent -- earning less than £25,000 per year. At the higher end of the pay scale this means 32.5 percent of women earn more than £40,000, compared to 45.2 percent of men. And in the very upper echelon, 2.7 percent of female respondents are earning more than £110,000 per year, compared to 3.5 percent of males.
For all job and work-related news, or to search for a job and get information on training, go to ZDNet Jobs. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Related stories

Government programme to get women back to IT

IT industry 'still failing' to retain women

IT salaries up in UK, says survey

Government calls for more women in IT

RIM bundles management tools with Office 365

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

bootlegger

Make that 13 people now - I got refused today at Manchester airport. I thought I was up to date on this legislation - I knew of the EU ruling from...

2 hours ago by bootlegger on UK airport body scans will not be opt out
tinycg

Don't forget to check out apps like GoodReader or SlideShark either, they're indispensible for people on the go in presentation situations. Best...

4 hours ago by tinycg on Four top iPad apps for people on the move
TerryRK

Well it seems there is something a number of us agree on. Why is the Ubuntu Unity launcher so ugly? I thought perhaps it was something to do with...

9 hours ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Freebies202

Duplicate comments are not made intentionally. Its very good to know that now you are keeping check on this problem because sometimes a commenter...

18 hours ago by Freebies202 on Microsoft fixes blog comments, speeds up blogs with open source
kevinmchapman

"the very significant number of users" and "many (most) of us" - you have no evidence for these statements. It is a fact that most users are saying...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Marg Menzies Harrison

Another grammar faux pas is the improper use of "you". When sitting down down in a restaurant, for example, I get cringe when the waitress...

1 day ago by Marg Menzies Harrison via Facebook on 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
zdnetukuser

And NOW, folks, for Canonical's next trick... Kubuntu is late. Here's a pencil. Draw your own conclusions. cf.:...

1 day ago by zdnetukuser on Linux Minterface
Moley

@kevinmchapman. The discussion here reflects the very significant number of users who really do like the traditional menu system and who wish to...

1 day ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

Er, no... It is an efficient means of finding the application/file/setting you need in one place. The icons are a simply a fallback for when you...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

Isn't the provision of a text based search an admission by the developers that the mass of icons approach does not work? I don't need to use a...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
kevinmchapman

"Unity and GNOME 3 both abandon the old text-based cascading menus in favour of a graphical icon-driven system." Point truly missed. Both use a...

1 day ago by kevinmchapman on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
TerryRK

whs001 - Thank you, I'm glad you liked the article. I absolutely agree with you on your first point. I should perhaps have made it clearer that...

1 day ago by TerryRK on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Dennis Nilsson

If we allow corporate interest to dictate the way our government circumvents due process against foreign entities then we should accept the same...

1 day ago by Dennis Nilsson via Facebook on ACTA stumbles in Germany
GHar123

I totally dislike pirating of works, I fear that artists will be deterred from creating works if they think that they are going to get ripped off....

2 days ago by GHar123 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

2 days ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 days ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

2 days ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

2 days ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

2 days ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

2 days ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Latest in Systems Management

RIM bundles management tools with Office 365

Red Hat EV3 launches with all-Linux stack

Microsoft kills System Center single-module licence

Featured white papers

Value of a team: Five pillars to strengthen employee culture

Citrix Online

Value of a team: Five pillars to strengthen employee culture

This white paper explores how to define objectives for employees and clients and how the business can benefit from encouraging... Read more

Key trends driving global business resilience and risk

IBM

Key trends driving global business resilience and risk

This IBM research paper looks at how businesses are thinking more about business resilience by improving the ability to adapt to a continuously changing business... Read more

Cloud computing security: A practical guide

SunGard Availability Services

Cloud computing security: A practical guide

Cloud computing has been the belle of the IT ball, but can you trust it to keep data reliable and... Read more

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Make faster, smarter decisions using BI

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault