Women in IT

I'm a woman.

I work in IT and I've never felt my gender was a barrier to my success in the industry. However, I am a project manager, and although women are still the minority, the gap is not so vast as in other roles - particularly that of the software developer.

I've read a couple of great blog entries on this lately - particularly this one on devchix, which refers to a couple of others.

I firmly believe that this is not a chicken and egg thing.

I honestly feel that without first increasing the sheer number of women working in IT - especially in male dominated roles - the lack of respect and poor behaviour that results from the imbalance will not change.

So how to get more women into IT?

I think that the first step is to break the perception of developers as pale, solitary, socially inept young men. I currently work with some fantastically well-rounded guys & girls, who also happen to be great software developers.

And it's not just a ThoughtWorks thing. I've found these people at clients, as well as past employers.

What am I doing about it?

I'm talking to both my old high school, as well as my university, about getting involved in their marketing activities. I'm part of a group at ThoughtWorks which is looking at other ways in which we can look at addressing the imbalance.

And I'm telling anyone who will listen.