Diversity, especially in terms of gender, will be a priority for the employers of IT professionals as gender imbalance is a key issue facing employers.  The female IT professional workforce has declined since 1999 and currently stands at just 20%, despite diversity being a priority for employers.  Occupational segregation is a key threat to productivity, competitiveness and choice.

Although women make up 45% of the UK workforce, only 18% of IT professionals are female.  This is reduced still further when Telecoms professionals are included; only 17% of IT and Telecoms professionals are female. 

Women are also underrepresented on IT-related GCSEs (including Computer Studies and IT) and A Levels (including Computer Studies and ICT).  43% of IT-related GSCE candidates and 27% of IT-related A Level candidates were female in 2004.

57% of Higher Education places in the UK in 2005 were being awarded to females.  IT-related courses in Higher Education refer to Computer Science, Computer Systems Engineering, Information Systems, Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence degrees.  Only 24% of places on IT-related courses were awarded to women. The proportion of women following IT related degree courses directly reflects that of IT and Telecoms professional occupations.

The proportion of female IT and Telecoms professionals varies slightly between regions at between 15% and 23% of the workforce. 

Women in IT and Telecoms occupations are more likely than men to be working part-time; 18% compared to 3% of male employees.  This is more pronounced in operations (24%) and user support technician (31%) occupations.

Certain occupations have a slightly higher female presence including Operations /User Support Technicians  Only 20% of all managers and senior officials employed in the IT and Telecoms industry are female.  Conversely, 76% of administrative and secretarial staff are female.  Additionally in the Telecoms industry, female representation is high in the Sales and Customer service occupations, but not in technical Telecoms roles, such as Telecoms engineer which is almost entirely populated by male employees.

Source: e-skills UK regional reports 2005a, e-skills bulletin (issue 14, quarter 3) 2005, Diversity Statistics provided by e-skills UK 2006 and e-skills UK/Gartner Consulting 2004

For more statistics of women in IT education and training see the UK Resource Centre for Women in science, engineering and technology website.

For data on the IT workforce by gender see:

Current research has revealed some new perceptions of the IT industry, including the beliefs that:

• a young workforce is an attractive characteristic for young people considering their careers
• women expect males may feel threatened by the presence of women
• women do not show enough confidence in their abilities

A further study aimed at uncovering the attitudes of girls aged 13-17 towards study and a career in IT revealed that 27% of respondents would consider a career in IT, 65% found school ICT lessons enjoyable and 40% used computers for games.  However, the survey revealed a lack of understanding of the IT career options available:

• 17% thought that a career in IT would involve general office work
• 17% thought it would involve general secretarial duties

Although a positive number of girls claimed they would consider a career in IT, there were misconceptions with regard to duties a career in IT would involve, which was attributed to inadequate careers advice.

Source: Diversity Statistics provided by e-skills UK 2005, DTI 2005 and Georgiou 2005

The IT and Telecoms sector has in some age-groups an imbalance of almost 5 to 1.  On average, an IT/Telecoms professional working in the UK is around 37 years old, the average for women is 36.

User Support Technicians, Computer Engineers and Database Assistants are likely to be younger (34 years old).  ICT Manager and Telecoms Engineer occupational groups have an average age of 40 years.

Source: Diversity Statistics provided by e-skills UK 2005

Statistics show that just over 11% of the IT and Telecoms workforce have some disability (as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act) compared to nearly 13% within the UK workforce. 

Source: Diversity Statistics provided by e-skills UK 2006 (based on Labour Force Survey, January-March 2006)

The majority of IT and Telecoms  staff (87%) were born in the UK with a further 3% from Europe and 10% elsewhere. 

In 2006, the IT and Telecoms workforce in the UK was:

• 89% White
• 6% Asian or Asian British 
• 2% Black or Black British

This compares to total UK workforce figures of 92% White, 4% Asian or Asian British and 2% Black or Black British.

A higher than average proportion of IT Modern Apprentices are from ethnic minority backgrounds. Asians have a significantly higher representation on IT related higher education courses than on higher education courses overall and than other ethnic minorities on IT courses. This higher representation of Asians is also reflected in the IT professional workforce.

Source: Diversity Statistics provided by e-skills UK 2006 (based on Labour Force Survey, January – March 2006)

AbilityNet – Championing IT for people with disabilities

Website covering courses, careers, together with advice and information IT accessibility and adapting individual PCs.

Athena Project

The project aims to advance and promote the careers of women in science, engineering and technology (SET) in higher education and research to achieve a significant increase in the number of women recruited to top posts. Athena works in partnership with universities, research councils and SET professional and learned societies.

Computer Clubs for Girls

Computer Clubs for Girls is an out-of-school club, for girls aged 10-14, created and operated by e-skills UK.  An initial pilot in the South East was supported by SEEDA and the DfES subsequently funded a national roll out.  The club provides a ‘not school’ and fun environment where girls learn skills across a wide variety of IT fields – including graphics, animation, databases, spreadsheets, publishing, programming and web design.  Clubs are supported by donations of software from a range of applications manufacturers.  Evaluations of the club members and club facilitators indicate strongly both an increase in cross-curricular use of IT and a more positive perception of IT as a potential career. For more information visit the CC4G website or the e-skills website.  

Equalitec – Advancing Women

Website designed to improve the levels of recruitment and retention of women in Information Technology, electronics and communications (ITEC) industries. It is a platform in which women in ITEC can communicate.

Women into Science and Engineering (WISE)

A campaign run by the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) aimed at encouraging and enabling young women to find out more about a career in science, engineering and technology.