We all know this, but it’s useful to be reminded of it periodically.
I’m chairman of the board of the National Center for Women & Information Technology. It’s a remarkable organization that has accomplished a great deal under the leadership of Lucy Sanders. While it would be easy to categorize NCWIT as a "gender equality" organization, it’s not. Instead, NCWIT is focused on helping the US be more competitive in the long term in the field of information technology and computer science.
Simply put, the only way to satisfy the increasing demand for computer science / IT folks in the US over the next decade is to get more women involved. There is a long list of other important reasons to get more women in the US engaged in computer science / IT, but the need to stay competitive in this arena is the one that seals the deal for me.
NCWIT periodically gets emails like the following:
Subject: Answer of why woman in IT is shrinking
IT is a very hard field in which you have to study all the time to keep up with technology. Also, it involves incredible troubleshooting skills, which by nature woman lack. What you need are more special laws, so that woman have special privilages, which is the only way their will be an increase of women in IT. Until then just keep complaining as your gender is perfect at it. Please post this on your wall at your Facist Woman in IT offices. Or just delete as women hate the truth.
Someone should teach that guy how to spell fascist.