New trends in IT are capable of attracting new entrants into the market, but schools have a responsibility to make the industry more appealing, according to a leading female IT academic.
Women represent only 16 per cent of the IT workforce, but are happy to make use of interactive tools like social networking.
Children should be introduced to these exciting features early on, said Wendy Hall of the University of Southampton, former chairwoman of the British Computer Society and new president of the US Association of Computing Machinery (ACM).
"The skills shortage needs to be tackled at all levels, starting with the way IT is taught in schools and through the transitions between school, university and work," she said.
"Women are just as interested as men in social networking and areas like e-health - caring via technology - are really appealing to women. We need to start teaching this stuff in schools."
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