Page 6 - BusinessWest January 10, 2022

6 JANUARY 10, 2022
FEATURE
Missed Connections
Women Still Lag in the IT Workforce, but Why?
BAy Joseph Bednar
s an associate professor of Computer Science at Elms College, Beryl Hoffman is some- what far afield of her first cho- sen college major: biology.
“I had not really heard about computer science as a career at all — my high
school didn’t offer it,” she told BusinessWest. “But a friend talked me into taking a coding class for fun.”
And she enjoyed it — enough to eventually push her studies in a different direction.
“As soon as I started it, I felt that, if girls had that experience early on, they would also really enjoy it,” Hoffman recalled. “What hooked me was the problem-solving aspect, plus the creativ- ity. A lot of girls don’t get introduced to that, even
It’s a widely quoted statistic that, unfortunately, hasn’t changed much in recent years — only about one- quarter of information-technology (IT) jobs are held by women, and the percentages are much less for women of color — and women in IT leadership, for that matter. That will change, those working and teaching in the field say — but only with a stronger emphasis on making not only women aware of the wide array of careers available in IT, but girls as well.
“What hooked me was the problem- solving aspect, plus the creativity. A lot of girls don’t get introduced to that, even after school or at home, where
it’s boys gaming and building robots.”
Hilary LeBrun says stereotypes have obscured what a rich, varied field
IT is — and kept many women from exploring it.
BusinessWest