Fewer than one in five Information Technology, Electronics and Computing (ITEC) professionals and managers are women and female representation in ITEC is decreasing. Yet, there is a strong business case for increasing the proportion of women employed in this sector. By not making use of all available human capital resources, employers are narrowing the pool of talent they can choose from. Underutilising a valuable section of the labour market is ineffective, especially when jobs are hard to fill or during times of skills shortages. The implications of this are wider if women are working in lower skilled roles and in occupations that do not fully use their actual or potential skills. The effect is that the economy is operating below its productive potential, thus slowing its rate of growth. Furthermore, it is easier to understand and meet customer and client expectations if the people creating the products and services are as diverse as the people who buy or use the products and services. And, of course, most managers are now committed, from an ethical standpoint, to ensuring that women and men have the same opportunities to develop their careers.
