Planning future strategies to attract more women is difficult when there is disagreement among females in IT on how they want to be perceived in their field. When HP CEO Carly Fiorina was asked to step down in February of this year, talk inevitably turned to her gender, and the bearing it had - negative or otherwise -- on her image and career. During her time as the head of HP, Fiorina repeatedly refused to discuss women's issues or speak about her status as one of the tiny two percent of female Fortune 500 CEOs. Fiorina's belief in gender irrelevance and being judged on merit alone may seem like a glass ceiling-smashing ideology, but it's not one that Pia Waugh, Vice-President of Linux Australia, agrees with. -We have a point in history at the moment where there's a problem, and ignoring the problem doesn't help fix it", she says. -Until we actually even up the balance a little bit, then I think it needs to be brought out and spoken about in an open forum".
While many resent being treated as -one of the boys", others are keen to divert attention away from their gender in an industry where femininity can be seen as a weakness. -The terms 'feminine' and 'strong' are seen as an oxymoron; they're seen as mutually exclusive", says Waugh. -When a woman is being strong, she's supposedly being male".
The retention of female employees is another contentious issue; as Roy says, -getting women in is one thing, getting them to stay is an entirely different matter". Women who take leave for family reasons may never return, due to the difficulties of working long hours and having fallen behind with regard to ever-evolving technology. -The technical side of IT is continuously and rapidly changing. I'm doing fine in keeping up with it now, but what if I got married and had kids?"
The ACS' March Work/Life policy, which addressed such concerns with recommendations of job sharing, paid parental leave and flexible working hours, received a less than enthusiastic response from IT minister Helen Coonan, highlighting the difficulty of a non-government body trying to create and enforce social policies.
The way forward
In the next five years, Spencer would like to see a greater emphasis on workplace policy development and an understanding that equal opportunity is an ethical issue.
-People in governments do want to see changes taking place. The difficulty is finding enough women who can spend enough time to actually work in the area, and keeping some sort of consistent effort going. We've been doing lots of research, and probably not very much at the moment about action."
Several initiatives are in place to support and further women in the industry, including WIT's mentoring and board-readiness schemes, and regular social events organised by the Females in Information Technology and Telecommunications (FITT) network. In addition to efforts by non-profit organisations, the federal government is also contributing with initiatives such as the upcoming Women in ICT Summit. Spencer sees the event as a step in the right direction, so long as it is appropriately focused: -It's going to be really important for that summit to address actions for the future rather than simply researching the reasons of the past."
Technology itself may also be able to make a positive impact on the conditions for women in the IT workforce. For Zowghi, the opportunity to work from home via remote access and the internet was a major drawcard in her decision to remain in the industry: -I wanted to bring up my kids myself rather than sending them to child care and a career in IT gave me that flexibility".
The open source movement, in which developers are judged solely on the quality of their code, also presents opportunities for women to achieve recognition for their work. Waugh has found the open source environment to be refreshingly non-subjective, with its emphasis on collaboration and receptiveness, regardless of gender, race, culture or age. -When you're online, you can be anyone", she says. -There is a natural acceptance which is enforced, because if you're working with someone, you have to be aware that they could be from any background."
The message that many women in the technology sector want to get across is that IT offers a wealth of opportunities for women beyond the coding and programming roles that most people tend to associate with. -If you think of it in terms of the use of IT within the community, you have this whole diverse range of things that you can participate in", says Spencer. Roy agrees: -It can take you anywhere. If you have a passion for design, fashion, construction, medicine, finance it doesn't really matter as they all rely on some form of technology".
1%
8%
IT is the most open field there is. Women that have talent and do the work face no more obstacles than men. Why should women get special treatment, especially if the ones that need it have demonstrated they can't cut the mustard?