Deliberate Leadership

For decades, societal influences, academic ennui, and corporate resistance to change have contributed toward the reduction of the number of women pursuing the computer science field. Technology innovations have enabled greater workplace flexibility, yet gender schemas and negative stereotypes remain. Human Resources organizations are pivotal in altering negative perceptions and reversing misconceptions. HR has low and no cost options available to them to greatly impact their work environment and subsequent female IT recruitment, development, and retention programs. Organizations that do not deliberately address the talent shortfall within Information Technology will clearly suffer recruitment, retention, and business performance consequences. While the focus of this chapter is women in IT, most of the discussion can also be applied to men.