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The Rt. Hon. Patricia HewittWomen in IT Conference |
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Thank you Alistair for that kind introduction. I'm delighted to be back here today. After the tremendous success of last year's conference, it's great to see the size and make up of today's audience. It shows the increasing importance so many people and organisations are attaching to this crucial agenda - increasing the number of women working in IT. It really is a key challenge. A challenge to us in Government - in delivering a strong economy and a strong society, a challenge to industry, in closing the IT skills gap – so they can compete and win in world markets, a challenge to those in education – making sure the supply side is helping prepare young people for the world of work. And it's a challenge we all need to work together on if we are to develop successful solutions. And we are developing an increasingly strong and robust partnership – as today's audience – drawn from the worlds of business, education, trade unions, the voluntary sector and women's groups – clearly shows. Illustrating this, I've heard today that Comptia are proposing to sponsor fifteen women to enter the IT workforce – which is a very welcome and generous move. The Current Position At last year's conference, we created the Women in IT Champions Group. Rebecca George has done tremendous work leading the group. The Problem The group's first priority has been to look at the problem of retention of women in the IT workforce. Their report paints a worrying picture. It shows clearly that women are under represented in IT employment. Especially in jobs at higher skills levels. The proportion of women in IT is 23% - compared to 46% across the UK workforce. So women make up about half the workforce generally – yet only a quarter of the IT workforce. And the report shows the problem is not so much about recruitment. The report indicates about 36% of new hires in the first quarter of 2002 were women. It's more about retention. The fact is that women do not remain in the IT workforce as long as their male counterparts. Women are often quitting as a result of motherhood and then failing to return or giving up at a later stage in their careers, probably because they come crash up against a glass ceiling. This is bad news for women who are finding themselves in a declining proportion in a modern industry and bad news for the IT business, which cannot afford to lose or waste talent on such a scale. Any business that is failing to attract and hold on to employees from 50 per cent of the work force needs to look long and hard at their workplace practices and culture- and they need to do it quickly. Some real soul searching is called for. The costs of recruiting and training high-skilled staff can be immense and wasted if staff are not encouraged to develop and reach their full potential in an organisation. They estimate from about £5,000 for an entry level IT worker – to as much as £85,000 for a senior manager. Of course the best employers already recognise this and know the costs involved – in advertising, relocation and, most significantly, lost skills and productivity. But my aim is to make sure that all businesses get the message. It really is in the best interests of their long-term productivity and competitiveness. There are over 40 case studies available on the DTI's Work-Life Balance website that demonstrate this business case. Our Work Life Balance Fund is helping a number of companies address these issues – including Sigmer, Taylor Made Computer Solutions, Elucid and EDS who are all represented here today. Taylor Made Computer Solutions are using their funding to develop the organisation and management skills so that growth is planned and ownership shared and consider flexible working as a potential benefit to both customers and employees. I've seen many examples of how flexible working improves business performance myself. Last year, I undertook an international study of long hours' culture, comparing conditions in the UK with the rest of Europe and the US. I will be presenting the findings of our study next week. I can tell you though that every business we visited on our study tour said that they supported flexible working practices because they could see real business benefits for doing so. Merck Pharmaceuticals in the US, for example, estimate that for every dollar invested in promoting flexible working, they got seven dollars back. Many other companies reported lower levels of staff turnover and absenteeism, and higher levels of staff motivation and productivity. But within the world of IT, there are very specific problems. Rebecca and her team point to many of these – yes, there is a problem with work/life balance. The DTI is doing something to help tackle the work/life balance problem. We have the new rights coming on stream in April. From April 2003, parents with children under six or disabled children under 18 will have the right to ask their employer to consider seriously their requests to work flexibly. Also from April, the standard rate of maternity pay will increase to £100 a week and paternity pay will be introduced. Paid maternity leave will go up from 18 to 26 weeks, with a further six months of unpaid leave also available. But the problem cannot be solved by legislation alone. It goes deeper than that. The industry has some critical cultural issues to deal with – especially the problem of why women are not reaching the top jobs in IT. The Solution This culture problem can only be dealt with by the industry itself. This is a tough challenge – particularly when faced with an increasingly difficult business climate. But it's one that has to be tackled. It is crucial to the competitiveness of the industry. There is a bottom line cost. And I'm delighted that so many individual companies, and indeed the industry as a whole, do seem to be recognising this, and joining in efforts to address the issue. Computer Clubs for Girls are really taking off. And I'm thrilled to announce that the South East England Development Agency has committed almost three million pounds to help the Clubs' work. The Department for Education and Skills is now investigating a national rollout of the Clubs. The Science and Engineering Ambassadors scheme has been actively encouraging women to act as role models for others to follow their lead. Volunteers from many scientific communities have signed up - and I'm pleased to see a large proportion of women from IT amongst them. What's really encouraging is the way the Ambassadors are using means of communication that particularly appeal to young people to get their message across. We really need to attract women when they're at school to the advantages of a career in IT. In 2001, about 32,000 boys passed their IT GCSE, against 24,000 girls. Although it's interesting that those girls that do take GCSEs in IT do better than the boys – with a success rate of 87% against 83% by the boys. It is these sorts of stats that make the Itbeat competition I helped launch in November to attract young girls to IT so important. I'm really pleased so many companies have thrown their weight behind this. Prizewinners will have the chance to take part in a record-breaking sleepover at the Science Museum and the chance to meet some of their favourite pop bands. Pop Idols and IT - a winning combination! As well as all this work going on, 2002 has also seen us deepening our understanding of the issues involved in helping women play their full part in science and technology. Almost exactly one year ago today I asked Baroness Susan Greenfield to undertake a wide ranging investigation into women's participation in science, engineering and technology. Susan's colleague, Teresa Rees, will shortly be outlining for you the major conclusions and recommendations of the review. I will consider these recommendations carefully, and respond shortly. But I do agree with Susan that our response to this challenge must be strategic and integrated. We all have to work together on this issue, else our efforts could be wasted. We have to ensure our action is built on the long term. The Future And so to the future. Gatherings like this are important but they are only milestones in an on-going process. What happens in the weeks, months and years to come will be crucially important. I do not doubt then that there is much still to do achieve parity for women in IT. But I'm encouraged by the partnership that is coalescing around this agenda. Together I'm convinced we can crack it. |
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Other speeches by The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt
(the following are available from the archive) |
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