Women freak over ICT's geeky image

THE number of women hired in the ICT industry has dropped in the past two years, despite a strong technology job market.

According to a report by recruitment agency Diversiti released today, 45 per cent of surveyed organisations said their female ICT hires made up less than 20 per cent this year.

This compares with just 35 per cent of organisations reporting less than 20 per cent of female hires for ICT jobs in 2006.

The number of organisations reporting a strong female ICT hiring profile of more than 61 per cent women had almost halved between 2006 and this year, from 7 per cent to 4 per cent.

Diversiti managing director Deborah Howard pointed to a number of reasons for the decline, including poor marketing of ICT careers to women and a perception that the sector was "geekish".

"ICT careers are not deemed as attractive to women. They are still deemed geekish and male-dominated and the field isn't marketed as well as it could be, concerning the diversity of skills and jobs in IT," she said.

Diversiti surveyed 371 organisations for its ICT Hiring Influence report.