Women in IT to be encouraged!

I’m a firm believer in programs which support under-represented groups towards careers in the ICT sector. Back in 2000, the executive vice-president of an e-learning company called Smartforce flew into Vancouver to request support for their company—at that time, they were the world’s largest with about 5 million users. In lieu of being paid, I suggested they support programs for women and other groups. Ultimately, this led to a series of live webcasts with Q&A which were also publicly available involving monthly trips to US and with participants worldwide (plus more than 1500 hours of preparation). So I have put my beliefs into action. That’s why when I saw this article in www.ITBusiness.ca, it resonated with me and my first reaction was—Right on!

“The Ontario government on Wednesday announced $2.7 million in funding for educational training for low-income women looking to pursue careers in the information and communications technology sector.”

CIPS’ President, John Boufford is quoted in the article since CIPS has supported Women in IT for many years: “(Women) are poorly represented in the ICT workforce. We think the program announced today is a great first step to launch IT careers for these women.” The article goes on to note that CIPS has a personal interest in the subject with its Women in IT (WIT) program, which strives to get young women in high school interested in careers in the computer science field.

Thank you,
Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P.