Some good resources for career information for young girls and women:
CyberSisters is an educational telementoring program for middle school girls in science, math and technology.
Getting Girls Interested in Computers, is a teacher training program that addresses the problem of getting high school girls more interested in computers and CS.
The Center's mission is to encourage more women and girls to become involved with information technology, both as knowledgable users and as professionals in the field. The Center's web site includes resources that further the mission. They include what is perhaps the most extensive online collection of news articles concerning women and IT; a large bibliography of books about women and information technology that includes links to reviews, interviews, web sites, etc.; links to women-related web sites focusing on Science/Technology, on Internet Information, and on resources for girls; information about women-related email lists in Science/Technology; announcements of conferences, and calls for papers; and a vast collection of web-based syllabi for women- and gender-related courses, including courses focusing on women and science/technology, and more.
The mission of ACM-W is to engage in activities and projects that aim to improve the working and learning environments for women in computing. This includes promoting activities that result in more equal representation of women in CS such as mentoring or role modeling, monitoring the status of women in industrial and academic computing through the gathering of statistics, providing historical information about women's accomplishments and roles in CS, and serving as a repository of information about programs, documents and policies of concern to women in CS.
Named in honor of Ada Lovelace, TAP is a clearinghouse for information and resources related to women in computing.
WITI is a business-centered, strategic, inclusive organization committed to advancing women in technology. WITI membership supports our ongoing commitment to forwarding the advancement of women in technology by making it possible to maintain and develop innovative programs such as the WITI Hall of Fame, Women in Science and Technology Month, Take Your Children On The Internet Week, and Regional Chapter Expansion.
Promoting the advancement of women in the computing professions.
To help women on the IT career path, GirlGeeks provides an online community for aspiring women in all stages of IT career development by connecting professional women in information technology with each other and to essential career building tools and services. Live chats, geek-o-meter, mentors - definitely the online "source for women in computing".
MentorNet is the National Electronic Industrial Mentoring Network for Women in Engineering and Sciences. MentorNet pairs undergraduate and graduate women students with mentors in industry, and provides a framework for them to pursue a year-long mentoring relationship via email.
A gateway of global Internet resources for women in science (with a European focus). Euroscience is open to scholars, engineers and technicians from the public and entrepreneurial sectors, but also to any citizen interested in implementing societal demands on science and technology and monitoring the impact of science on society.
At Amazon now...
The demand for information technology (IT) professionals in our workforce is astounding. The Labor of Department
expected worker shortages through the first decade of the 21st century. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' growth
projections for 1996 through 2006 shows that the number of core IT workers will grow from 1.5 million in 1996 to
2.6 million in 2006. IT core workers are computer engineers, systems analysts, programmers and computer scientists,
which includes database administrators, computer support personnel and all other computer scientists. In addition,
another quarter million workers will be needed to replace those exiting these professions. The Office of Technology
Policy reports that the three fastest growing occupations in the 1996-2006 employment projections are core IT occupations:
analysts, computer engineers and programmers.
As the demand for IT professionals continues to increase, the graduation rate of those in undergraduate computer
and information sciences and technology programs has significantly declined. Between 1986 and 1994, the number
of bachelor degrees in computer science awarded declined by 40 percent. There has been an even greater decrease
of women into the computer science pipeline. The last few years have seen increases, but not significant.
Many believe that the low representation of women in computer science at the undergraduate level is inherited from
the secondary school level, where girls do not participate in computer science courses and related activities as
much as boys. Girls tend to be well represented in early computing courses but take advanced courses in far lesser
numbers than boys do. One reason cited as to why girls and young women are not attracted to, or move away from
CS is because of the focus on the technical and mathematical course requirements.
However, CS is more than just math, programming and technical issues. In fact, most work with computers involves
manipulation of information and communication with people, which relies as much on verbal and interpersonal skills
as on mathematical abilities. In order to attract women, introductory computer science classes should concentrate
on applications rather than on math or programming. In our society, girls don't get excited about computers for
their "gadget" value, as boys do. Female interest is engaged more if technology was discussed in terms
of their use as tools for problem solving.
There is a dire need for more women in the IT industry. We need more women to help solve business problems with
technology solutions. My request to you today is to encourage young women to consider the computer and information
sciences tracks, and to consider the IT professions. The purpose of computing technology in the workforce is to
solve problems, to assist us in our tasks, and for use as tools to help us conduct our business "better, faster,
cheaper". And please tell them to remember that "peopleware" skills are just as important as technical
skills, and that IT is not a competition or a game, it is a problem-solving opportunity.
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