SPIRIT - Program Information for Industry Most Information
Technology (IT) professionals are aware of the growing gender
gap in IT. Declining interest in computing begins early in
middle school, grows larger in college, and creates a situation
where employers have great difficulty finding qualified young
women to add to their IT teams. The lack of gender diversity on
IT design teams is likely to result in less creative solutions
and has the potential for companies to develop products that
appeal to only 50% of the target market. There are many of
reasons that women shy away from computing. Of these, SPIRIT
believes the following have the greatest - Young women want
careers that benefit society, but mistakenly believe that a
career in IT cannot achieve that goal. - Many people mistakenly
believe that the job prospects in IT are limited, especially for
women. Through generous funding by the National Science
Foundation and additional support provided by several industry
partners, SPIRIT will offer educational pr