Young women should be encouraged to enter a career in the IT industry, the British Computer Society (BCS) claims.
IT at school is 'almost invisible', and careers advisors do not know enough about the industry to let girls know about the chances available to them, according to the BCS's Women's Forum manager Jan Peters.
Apprenticeships in IT should be taken advantage of, rather than telling everyone interested in computing to go 'through the degree route', she comments.
Young women who take up apprenticeships tend to go into lower-paid industries such as hairdressing, childcare and beauty therapy, Peters says.
'We need to get across to young girls that there are opportunities in IT. It's about appealing to women from a young age,' she adds.
Figures published this month by Garnet and e-skills UK showed that just 16 per cent of workers in the technologies industries were women.
The BCS represents the interests of more than 60,000 members in over 100 countries and is the qualifying body for Chartered IT Professionals.
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