Age old problem dogs IT industry

Ageism across the IT sector may be less of an issue now than 15 years ago, but it is far from a thing of the past, according to experts speaking at a British Computer Society (BCS) event last week.

Colin Barker, editor-in-chief of Computing, told delegates at the Women and Age - is IT a Big Issue? event that there is a public perception of the IT industry as young and trendy.

"But you don't have to go very far under the skin to see that it's very much like other industries," he added.

Most evidence about age discrimination in the IT industry is anecdotal, however, and scientific research is long overdue.

So Computing is joining forces with charity Age Positive and the BCS to identify the scope of the problem.

Research will be conducted among readers of Computing and its sister publication IT Week over the next few weeks, with the results due to be published in the Autumn.

"The issue of ageism is high on the agenda of many readers of Computing. Many feel that they are losing out because prospective employers and recruitment agencies discount people in their 40s," said Barker.

"We want to find out how much of a problem people in IT think this is. If it really is a problem then we can start to look at solutions."

Meanwhile a glance at the BCS membership reflects the gender issues facing the industry as a whole. While about one fifth of the BCS student membership is female, only five per cent of BCS fellows are women.

Colin Thomson, deputy chief executive at the BCS, which later this year will appoint its second female president, said: "Clearly there is a rapid fallout as you go up the tree and it's a big issue for us in terms of the wasted opportunity it presents."

Dr Sue Black, founder of the BCS Women's Group, is on a mission to make the Society more user-friendly to its female members.

She is the brains behind the Brownies and Guides badges in computing, and started a BCS project to send female IT professionals into schools to talk to youngsters about what it means to work in the industry.

But there's more to gender or age equality than altruistic ideals. As Glenda Stone, chief executive of Aurora Gender Capital Management, said: "We work with companies to be the employer of choice for women.

"It's not just a good thing to do; there are also very competitive economic advantages in doing it."