Microsoft invests $1m in IT girls

Submitted by anthony on Thu, 2009-07-16 00:20

Article here. Excerpt:

'Microsoft has made its second million-dollar grant to the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) to support the advancement of women in IT.

Founded in 2004, NCWIT is a coalition of over 170 corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits working to expand women's participation in IT. Members include Apple, AT&T, the Bank of America, Carnegie Mellon, Google, HP, Intel, MIT, Motorola, Pfizer, Princeton, Qualcomm, Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, Wal-Mart, and others.
...
NCWIT cites a number of statistics (PDF) to support its assertion that women are underrepresented in IT:

•Although 57 per cent of US undergraduate degrees went to women 2008, only 18 per cent of computer and information sciences degrees were earned by women.

•Only 24 per cent of IT positions in the US are held by women.

•Although 57 per cent of US high-school advanced-placement (AP) tests were taken by women in 2008, only 17 per cent of AP computer science (CS) were female.'

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