Female IT managers are closing the pay gap on their male counterparts, but still only account for 15 per cent of the total number of IT heads.

Women in technology roles have climbed three places on the earnings league table compared to other job functions, according to the National Management Salary Survey 2003.

Female IT managers now take home an average salary of £40,839, compared to £43,300 for their male colleagues.

For the seventh year running women managers received marginally higher salary increases (5.9 per cent) compared to men (five per cent), according to the study of 21,000 managers across over 400 organisations conducted by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and pay analyst Remuneration Economics.

But while pay discrepancies between the sexes are being addressed, they have little relation to job satisfaction.

Annual labour turnover among UK managers is 10.8 per cent, but more women (6.4 per cent) than men (3.3 per cent) are walking away from their jobs.

Glenda Stone, founder and chief executive of Aurora Gender Capital Management, which provides consultancy, research and training services to increase the number of women in senior positions, said: "The presence of women in technology companies is a good barometer of their level of innovation and competitiveness.

"As an investor, customer or employee, if the management team was populated by crusty old men it would not match my expectations of its innovation."

Karen Charlesworth, head of research at the CMI, added: "Clients are looking at specialist skills and value added consultancy where women might have an edge.

"Employers cannot afford to miss out on the talents of half the workforce."