Where are the women in IT?

company for about five years. Back then I was a business development manager. When I was ready to come back I did so as a senior manager. My time off didn’t hinder my career progression. During my time off, I made sure I stayed in touch to keep on point with what’s going on in the industry. I rang my contacts and said “I am ready and I am here”.

Curtain: You would be an exception.

Angel: Women sell themselves short and they think, “I have only been doing this for a few years and I’m not good enough to go for that senior position”.

Curtain: Women do as well and get marks as high as men. They do just as well in university and get into the entry-level position, so is it actually moving up that is the challenge. They don’t self-promote. Most male managers and traditional views make it difficult for women to move up.

Maynard: I truly believe that the drive, initiative and desire to succeed (no matter what the industry) comes from within, no matter what gender. Too often, the perpetuation of stereotyped women is perpetuated by women.

Are women networking enough?

Mackenzie: We need to change the nature of networking functions. After that we will find more women gravitating towards each other and creating more business opportunities. I’ll give you an example: there was a breast cancer function and 1000 women turned up. I scanned the room and yes there was a handful of men, but all the women were business women. They are definitely there and it took something as personal as breast cancer to get the women together to network.

Southon: There’s no reason why women can’t do more networking. I have thought a few times of setting up lunches and things like that. Men do it all the time. Most of us here have our networks of females and we stay within that circle, which is more like friendships. We don’t like making new contacts with total strangers. It will be interesting to see in two months time whether any of us make any contact with each other. The difference is men would walk out of here today and then make a call, in a couple of days or even in six months time.

Curtain: It’s not intuitive to us and networking is not something that is done. The other thing I wonder is, because we work long hours, I have female friends not in IT who say, “With all the travel you do with all the long hours, I wouldn’t be able to do it because of my small children”.

What would help the existing women in IT and attract new ones?

McQuarrie: There needs to be more women open to hiring women. Generally speaking, there are exceptions to this, but men hire men and women hire women.

Hyamson: I find they have a lot more flexibility, no matter what industry they are in.

Angel: Particularly with the skill shortage crisis. Things need to start shifting – women need more support, like daycare centre facilities.

Southon: It’s not just women that need support. In my teams, half of them are women but it’s quite interesting because the men are the ones taking more time off to be with their families.

Lowe: I think there is more flexibility now across the industry. Yes, women are taking time out of the industry, more so than a year or even two years ago. Also, a lot of men take maternity leave. Looking at the flexibility issue, if they are good at their job then you can juggle the work hours around them.

Is this change because of women in senior positions?

Southon: I think some women bosses can be a lot harder than men.

Angel: There are women bosses who try to compensate and keep up with the men. They should be embracing who they are because that is their strong point and that is who they are. We can do things that men can’t.

Curtain: I think back on the number of times I sit in a meeting and I try so hard not to put emotion into my strong opinion because I know how that goes down – it is perceived as [just being] emotional. A woman who takes a hard line is seen as being too emotional.

Angel: Or even a bitch.

Mackenzie: A chairman can be just as intimidating or what I call a bully, but intimidation can only go so far. Women are traditionally viewed as soft, delicate child-bearers. When you change that, from a male’s perspective, they get a bit frightened. Women need to remember they aren’t in senior positions because you have a set of testicles, it’s because you are there to do a job.