Training camp looks to boost female presence in IT
Training camp looks to boost female presence in IT
Aug 17, 2005: The global Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering (EXITE) camp, which is aimed at encouraging women to join the ICT workforce, has touched down in Brisbane for the first time.
The week-long camp - taking place thanks to a collaborative effort between IBM and Education Queensland - aims to address the growing under-representation of women in the industry by encouraging girls to explore the ICT sector and gain a better understanding of its career potential and appeal.
It is somewhat appropriate that the event is taking place in Queensland as the situation is particularly acute there. According to the Queensland Office for Women, female students in Queensland accounted for only 19.7 percent of year 12 students studying Information Processing & Technology in 2002, significantly below the national level of 25.1 percent.
“IBM is strongly committed to diversity in the workplace. Through events such as the EXITE camp…IBM’s overall aim is to even the playing field between males and females, and to fight the male-oriented stereotype within the IT industry,” said Ian McClenaughan, Queensland state manager, IBM.
According to the most recent ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) figures from 2003/04, only 16 percent of 335,200 ICT Australian employees were women. IBM exceeds this statistic in its own workforce, with female staff accounting for 35 percent of overall staff levels, and 26 percent of technical jobs in IBM Australia held by women.
The EXITE camp is part of an ongoing initiative by IBM to encourage women to take an interest in and to pursue careers in information technology.
“IBM is striving to encourage young women to explore IT as a serious career option and to demonstrate that there is a lot more to IT than traditional views of programming and engineering-based roles – including multimedia, film, design, and biotechnology,” said McClenaughan.
At the camp, participants from six state high schools will get a hands-on approach to IT, with practical sessions including lego robotics, building their own webpage and building a dancing graphic. Students will also hear about the range of career options in the IT sector and be given a tour of IT labs.
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