PM Network - June 2009

thebuzby Sarzah Fister Gale

REALITY CHECK

IN THESE PAGES

16 Return Business

18 The In Crowd

20 The New Carbon

DECADES HAVE PASSED since the United States and the United Kingdom enacted laws requiring equal pay for women. Yet questions linger over how things play out in the real world. The IT industry is no exception. It would seem fair to assume a progressive field driven by innovation would have an equally progressive attitude about fair wages. Yet some studies show that women—still a relatively rare commodity in IT—are trapped in low-level positions and continue to bring home less than men.

Only about one-third of 330 U.K. female tech professionals said their pay reflects their experience and skills, according to the Perceptions of Equal Pay Report 2008, released by U.K. IT group Intellect last October.

In the United Kingdom, the problem begins early in school. Despite statistics that show female students outperform their male counterparts in science and technology courses, the number of girls pursuing IT-related education tracks is much lower than boys, according to the Women in IT Scorecard. The report was published in March by Intellect and two other U.K. IT groups: the British Computer Society and e-skills UK. >>