IT will get better for women

The Register has a great interview with Professor Wendy Hall - computer scientist and president of the British Computer Society - about the lack of women in IT.

Hall suggests [that] the place to attack the problem is at the start of adolescence. "This is when the gender divide really sets in," she says. "But there is no point painting these girls a picture of life as a sysadmin. Quite apart from it not being very exciting, that is the industry as it is now, not as it will be in ten years when they join the workforce.

...Hall paints a picture of a world where everything is smaller and cleverer, or at least less stupid. Systems will be more tailored than they are now, technology will be hidden behind a smarter interface, and we'll have software agents that will negotiate services for us.

The sorts of skills required to deal with this brave new world will be the ones women have in abundance, and the subjects that attract more women will be the ones that become more important. Hall predicts that in the next five years, there will be computer science courses that require applicants to have a biology A-Level.

Traditionally women-dominated subjects, such as psychology and sociology, will grow in importance too, as the industry becomes more about personal support than systems support.

"The nature of the industry is going to change. So we need to look at that and say to these young women, 'Here is an intellectual challenge that you'll really enjoy'."