Study: UK Women Throw Their Hands Up at IT

By David Dahlquist | Sep 7. 2007

Tags: gender equality, hiring, human relations, information technology, it, pay parity, women

Men may be from Mars and women from Venus, but we're all equals in the workplace, right? Recent data regarding women in the IT industry seem to say otherwise.

According to the UK's National Management Salary Survey, garnered by the Chartered Management Institute and Remuneration Economics, the number of women resigning from information technology jobs in the UK has increased over the last year.

That's not the only thing out of proportion. The pay gap between men and women has also widened.

Women in the tech industry saw an average pay raise of 2.9 percent, while men saw an average of 3.1 percent. This marks the first time in 11 years that men's earnings have increased at a higher rate than women's.

The study also found that British female managers experience faster promotion time than men. A typical 37-year-old woman working as a team leader is five years younger on average than her male counterpart.

Furthermore, women are more likely to receive bonuses than men, with 46.5 percent receiving one-off bonus payments in 2006 compared to 30.8 percent of men. However, the bonuses are about 30 percent lower than men's and make up a lower proportion of the total pay packet.

SPONSORSHIP
CMSWire speaks to a specific audience of professionals. You can too. Advertise here.

Among the 3,538 IT workers surveyed, female managers on average earned 45,465 pounds (US$ 91,726) in 2006, about US$ 4,237 less than men.

Compared to the female resign rates of other sectors, women in IT are the fifth most likely to resign. In retail, for example, 11.7 percent of female employees resigned in 2006, compared to 5.7 percent of female tech workers. But retail industries generally have a high turnover rate, whereas a job in the tech industry tends to be more long-term.

Jo Causon, director of marketing and corporate affairs at CMI, noted that gender bias seems to be getting worse because the increased likelihood of promotion is not reflected in parity of pay, ZDNet reported.

The increase in resignations is concerning, especially as it could have an impact on the current skills shortage. Recent studies have also suggested that, by and large, women spend more time on the 'net than men do.

Do you have an opinion on this rather alarming trend? Let's hear it. Scroll down to the comment section below and speak up!

Did you find this useful?