Computers and the Internet must be marketed better if the gender gap in information technology is to close.

That is according to Irene Ordidge, of BECTA, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency.

One of the agency's tasks is to attract more girls into hi-tech careers where men have traditionally held the upper hand.

Technology need not be dull

In Britain, where more women work than men, 22% of Information Technology professionals are female. That falls to only 4% at management level.

At university, the general split between the sexes is roughly equal yet women make up just 20% of computer science students.

Catch them young: By their mid teens girls veer away from science subjects

The split starts around the mid-teens, after children have taken their GCSE exams at 16, according to Marie-Noelle Barton, manager of Wise (Women Into Science and Engineering) which is part of the Engineering Council.

"Girls are very good at science and information technology because they tend to work harder than boys. But we lose them when it comes to A-levels [Advanced level exams] because they tend to veer away from science," says Mrs Barton.

The perception, says Ms Ordidge, is that information technology is highly technical and therefore a dull area to work in.

"We don't tend to realise that it can be very creative. Girls need to be shown this and the image of information technology needs to change from perception to reality."

No need to know how it works

With the Web, that means pitching it more towards women's interests.

"We ran a one-day event at a public library and invited women to try out the technology. They liked the travel aspect: the fact that you could `take a holiday' on the computer by visiting hotels and art galleries," says Ms Ordidge.

"The basis of our project is that you don't have to be a technical wizard to use a computer.

"You don't have to understand how a computer works to use one, in the same way that most people drive a car without knowing what goes on under the bonnet."

Ms Ordidge says there have been some encouraging, if minor, shifts in attitude.

"Five years ago if you opened up a computer magazine you would never see a female image, That's changed but it is a slow, slow process."
 

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