Career Management Alliance Blog

A recent article in CIO Digest cited evidence that the percentage of women in IT has declined by almost eight percent since 2000, to 26 percent of all employed IT workers. Nobody at CIO seems to know the reason for the decline. Lynn Ellyn, Senior Vice President and CIO of DTE Energy, writes, “I think this trend is an indictment of the often abrasive experience women have in the IT arena. As I reflect on this disturbing trend, I recall countless incidences where women have been discounted and marginalized while struggling to balance family and work.” Also, she writes, “the image of the ‘computer guy’ is very unappealing to young women.” Ellyn, by the way, has been in the technology business for 30 years and currently oversees an 800-person IT organization.

I am sure CIO Ellyn is on to something. I also believe that our public education system might be a large reason for the trend. A long time ago (okay, about 20 years ago) I began a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and changed my major to business after only one semester. Why? Because it was really, really difficult. As much as I studied and received extra help (thanks Dr. Britton), I didn’t think in the same way as my professors and fellow students. Before college, I hadn’t received much training in logic and scientific thinking. In public high school, besides Algebra, Biology, and Chemistry, most of my required subjects were liberal arts. Certainly, one could say that I didn’t belong in a scientific field and was weeded out early. That is probably true. But, I wonder how many other girls (and guys) got weeded out and gave up altogether.

Fast-forward twenty years or so and not much has changed. I have a 14-year-old entering a top-notch public high school next fall (it’s famous because Oprah went there for a semester). Interestingly, as a freshman he’s required to take a semester of health and a foreign language, but science is not a requirement. In a survey conducted by Bayer of the 100 fastest growing U.S. science/technology firms, the CEOs assigned an average grade of “C-” (2.87) to the U.S. pre-college or K-12 education system for the job it is doing engaging and nurturing girls and minorities to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers.

So what does this mean? Of course we need to do a better job of preparing our kids and augmenting science education at home. However, from a careers perspective there’s tremendous opportunity for girls and women who wish to enter or transition into the field. With so much attention given to this trend, you can bet that forward-thinking firms will want to attract and retain women into their technology departments.

Posted by Michele Haffner