IT professionals are calling for more women to enter industry, as the perceived pay gap continues to dominate equality debate –
 
When the Equality Act came into force, IT jobs specialist, CWJobs found that just 55 percent of IT professionals feel there is currently a fair representation of women in the industry, and 64 percent feel a better gender balance would be beneficial to the sector.
 
Highlighting a disparity in salary perception between the sexes, 63 percent of females think they earn less than men, while just 28 percent of men believe this is the case. Reflecting the Equality and Human Rights Commission report* finding that the gender pay gap is lowest for the under 30s, data shows that just 25 percent of 20 – 29 year olds think women earn less than men, while 33 percent of 30 – 39 year olds believe this is the case.
 
Seventy six percent of the 5,556 IT professionals surveyed think younger IT specialists are not as valuable to the industry as those with experience of ten years or more. However, 62 percent do feel there is a fair representation of people of different ages in IT.
 
Richard Nott, Director, commented : “There is evidently still work to be done on tackling in-equality in the industry. At CWJobs we have a strong pool of female IT jobseekers, and believe we have the most diverse selection of candidates in the market. Although progress is being made, the industry as a whole must take steps to ensure equality is nurtured and continues to grow.”