Top 50 Recognition that a balanced workforce is a more effective one is prompting the high-tech industry to attract more women. Only 14.4 per cent of professionals working in information and communication technologies are female, and this is something that the technology industry is keen to see change. Now companies such as Microsoft and IBM are targeting girls at school before they make decisions about their careers.

Microsoft runs a programme called DigiGirlz aimed at 12 to 16 year olds. Melanie Turner, the regional staffing manager for services, says: “I think girls see IT as quite geeky, so we do a day event when we invite about 200 from local schools into our office and try to show them how exciting IT can be and how relevant to their skills.”

This year’s event in June focused on areas such as new developments in surface technology and photography as well as practical demonstrations of how computing applies to everyday life — and how te girls could make a difference by getting involved.

“The majority had no idea what a career in IT would involve,” Turner. says. “By the time they left they thought it was something they would really like to do, which is what we hoped for.”

Working for a technology company does not have to be technical. IBM started a schools outreach programme in November last year that aims to introduce girls to all areas of its business.

“We became aware that the number of women entering corporate life, not just IT, was declining,” says Karen Parker, an industry executive at IBM who leads the initiative.

“We discovered that they are not aware, during school and as they are making university choices, of the opportunities open to them in business and IT careers.”

IBM has increased the number of work experience weeks offered to sixth-form girls and has run an event attended by a number of schools at which students were able to talk to women from all disciplines across the company.

“There is definitely a perception that a lot of the roles that would be available to them would be highly technical. But, while the skills that women bring to a corporation such as IBM can be technical, they can bring a lot more in other areas as well,” Parker says.

One student who attended the event was 17-year-old Naomi Meroz, of St Gabriel’s School in Newbury, Berkshire. She says: “I showed interest during the talks and was contacted by one of the industry executives who offered me the chance to go to IBM in London for a few days.”

She was taken around the legal, sales and marketing departments, where she was able to talk to the women working there and weigh up potential career opportunities available to her.

“The event evoked an interest in fields I have never considered before and gave me an insight into the opportunities of in-house law in a large company.”

IBM is to increase the number of schools in its programme, while Microsoft is considering targeting girls going on to A levels and university. These and industry-wide initiatives such as the Computer Club 4 Girls, run by a government agency, should go some way towards changing female perceptions of a career in IT.

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