Article "Are There Too Many Women in IT?"

[Benoît Sibaud <bsibaud AT april.org>]

"Are There Too Many Women in IT?"
May 13, 2008
By Mike Elgan
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3746501
«
According to Gartner, the percentage of women in IT is low and
shrinking, dropping from 42 percent in 1996 to 32.4 percent in 2004
worldwide. In some countries, including in the United States, it's below
30 percent.

But those figures tell only part of the story: Fewer women than men
choose IT-related majors in college. Of those who do, a larger
percentage of them drop out or change their major. Women who enter the
IT profession are more likely than men quit or change careers. In the
top IT management positions, women are extraordinarily rare. The higher
up the IT food chain you go, the fewer women you'll find. 
»

«
The Lack of Role Models Argument
(...) This is a false argument. (...)
The IT-Is-Unfashionable Argument 
(...) The kids who dismiss that argument aren't cut out for IT (...)
The Sexism in the Workplace Argument 
(...) The declining percentages of women in IT can't be explained away
by sexism. (...)
The Affirmative Action Solution 
(...) I really don't know why more boys than girls choose to study IT,
choose careers in IT and stay with IT once the career has started - and
I confess I have no solution to offer.
»

-- 
Benoît Sibaud