The tech and telecoms industry needs to get more women on board or risk confronting a shortfall of 300,000 IT workers in 2010, according to the European Commission.

The Commission is hoping to influence more girls still in compulsory education to consider pursuing a career in IT, in an effort to keep the tech workforce on track.

Despite growth in the number of students across Europe studying ICT related subjects, the EC is pushing for more techies in universities -- currently 2.3 percent of all students study IT -- to keep Europe up to speed with its industrial rivals, such as the US, where five percent of graduates are techies, and South Korea, where the figure is six percent.

Getting more women into IT, says the EC, is the answer. In 2006 a mere 22 percent of those undertaking tech studies were women.

At the top of the corporate ladder, the picture is even bleaker. In 66 percent of telecoms companies, there are no women on the board and in 14 major IT companies the figure is less than 10 percent.

UK IT body Intellect has also warned recently that women are deserting IT, prompted by the long hours and macho culture. The group said only 16 percent of tech workers are women and even that meagre number is a drop from 18 percent a couple of years ago.

Australia is facing similar issues -- the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) CEO Sheryle Moon believes parents, career advisers and teachers have an important role to play in marketing the breadth of opportunities that the ICT industry offers.

In an interview to mark International Women's Day recently, Moon said: "There's a general lack of understanding by young people on what the industry is about ... we need a national approach to attracting young people and particularly young women into the industry."