Analysis: Women in IT still hit glass ceiling

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Despite the fact that the former head of the British Computer Society (BCS), Wendy Hall CBE, was honoured in this New Year’s Honours List in recognition for her contribution to the IT industry, there are still few female IT role models.

Charman-Anderson added: “I’m not advocating positive discrimination, I just think we need to make people more aware of the positive female role models already out there and raise their profiles.”

As result, she is establishing Ada Lovelace Day on 24 March 2009 as an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology.

Recent research by psychologist Penelope Lockwood discovered that women need to see female role models more than men need to see male ones, explained Charman-Anderson. “If women need female role models, I though it would be a good idea for women to come together to highlight the women in technology that we look up to,” she said.

“Let’s create new role models and make sure that whenever the question ‘who are the leading women in tech?’ is asked, that we all have a list of candidates on the tips of our tongues.”

Maggie Berry, director of womenintechnology.co.uk agreed: “It’s a challenge that won’t be resolved overnight, however the work we do and the events we hold both aim to arm women with the skills and knowledge they need to help overcome some of these problems and hopefully chip away at that glass ceiling.”

Click here to read why women might be turned off working in tech.

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