Young women steer clear of tech careers

By SHOWWEI CHU

July 6, 2000 Web posted at: 11:17 AM EDT (1517 GMT)

TORONTO, Ontario (Toronto Globe & Mail Online) -- Ashley Darosa has taken computer programming every year since Grade 7. So it's not without first-hand experience when the 16-year-old student says, "It's not for me."

Despite all the computer languages she's learned in class, including Unix, Basic and C++, and various spreadsheets and data processors she's picked up, Ms. Darosa, who just moved to Toronto from North Bay, Ont., said she won't be applying her skills in any technology-related career -- right now she wants to be a personal trainer.

An alarming number of girls feel the way Ms. Darosa does, experts say. Fewer than one-quarter of computer science and mathematics degrees are awarded to women from universities and colleges.

That gender imbalance is decades old, but dealing with it is gaining a new urgency as technology firms in Canada and throughout North America try to fill what they say are thousands of vacant positions.

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In this country, the sector estimates that 50,000 jobs go unfilled each year for lack of highly skilled employees.

A report from the American Association of University Women concluded that girls are turned off by technical careers because they view the industry as full of geeky guys in windowless offices who toil for hours on keyboards.

The study, Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age, concluded that girls have the ability to learn and use computers, but they are taking themselves off the path to high-paying jobs in the computer industry, and they're not learning skills that could give them an advantage in any career that uses computers.

Their comments include:

"Girls have other priorities. Guys are more computer-type people."

"I don't want to take computer science. . . . Just looking at it, all the programming and these funny-looking things on the paper. It (takes) so much stuff to do one thing on the computer."

Linda Scherr, chairwoman of International Business Machines Corp.'s Women in Technology program, is concerned about the trend.

"Since women are half the work force and so few go into computers, we're on the brink of disaster here," she said.

While the stereotypes exist, women already in the industry must be promoted as mentors, says Farrah Jinha, president of Wired Woman, a group that promotes information technology for women.

"Girls at six, 12 and 16 often view the industry as not being one that's interesting or a place for them," Ms. Jinha said.

Still, industry watchers says IT jobs that deal more with the training or implementation side are attracting women.

"Females are getting into the IT sector but coming at it in a different way and end up in sales, communications or networking," said Paul Swinwood, president of the Software Human Resource Council in Ottawa. "You don't really need to have a computer science or engineering degree to do that."

In the case of Sarah Murphy, it's a lack of interest, not ability, that is steering her away from a career in technology.

Ms. Murphy took a computer course last year that taught her how to build robots and design Web pages. She scored 84 percent in the course, but the 17-year-old Toronto student, who plans to go into graphics arts, would prefer to leave the programming up to someone else.

"I'm not into the building of programs and stuff," said Ms. Murphy, who was outside Eaton's with three friends.

But some young women are keenly interested in learning more about technology.

Jennifer Silcox and Yvonne Etue, both 15, said they want to take computer programming courses in their senior year in high school. "You get better choices in your career," Ms. Etue said.

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