When it comes to why women chose not to follow a career in IT the number of reasons are endless. Some of them see the field of IT as not interesting enough, some think that even if they decide to go for it they will not do as great at it as they would do in another field, while some others have been raised by parents who have a clear view on what they daughter/daughters would become in the future and IT is off the charts according to them.

With the majority of females being raised in such conditions when a certain profession is percept in a way that does not give females the opportunity to see beyond it and understand that IT is indeed very interesting, that they can be good at it, and that they can choose to study and follow the path they want to follow, no matter what misconceptions or different perceptions about a certain profession arise, the number of females choosing to go for IT becomes lower and lower.

According to a Catalyst report, The Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women’s Representation on Boards, Tech companies that have a larger number of women on their management teams have a 34% higher return on investment compared to tech companies that have fewer representation of women board directors.

“Clearly, financial measures excel where women serve on corporate boards,” according to Catalyst President Ilene H. Lang. “This Catalyst study again demonstrates the very strong correlation between corporate financial performance and gender diversity. We know that diversity, well managed, produces better results. And smart companies appreciate that diversifying their boards with women can lead to more independence, innovation, and good governance and maximize their company’s performance,” Lang added.

There are also cases when women choose to study IT but in most cases they get the pressure of failure warnings coming from other people as well as themselves that make them step out of IT and chose a more “feminine” profession.

According to Little Miss Geek: Bridging the Gap Between Girls and Technology book by Belinda Parmar, “developers tend to be good, straightforward sorts with a refreshing lack of ego, who genuinely enjoy collaborating. The industry wants to change – it knows the gender balance is off, and will probably do things to address that.”

Despite the low number of women in IT, a lot of awards are given to female IT workers which once again proves that women not only are able to do great in IT but their attentive intuition, focus on details and determination pay off. What it needs to be done in the near future is to get past of stereotypes and wrong perceptions and expose more women to jobs related to technology and reassure them that they can do great in any field they put themselves into and become a great asset for any company that hires them. 

Image Source: m247.com