The gender wage gap has narrowed, but U.S. Census Bureau figures show that American women earn less than 75 percent of what men earn. The average return in earnings for each year of higher education is greater for men than for women.

Tech women enjoy a smaller wage gap. The IT industry offers women a better chance at pay equity than any other industry. In a study by Gray and Huang, the most important variable affecting earnings of both men and women was occupation, not education levels. This study showed occupation choice effect's on wages was greater for women than for men.

Techies.com study finds women earn 92 percent of male peer salaries. Although better than the average U.S. 75% of male earnings, it's still a gender wage gap. Salaries of more than 106,133 techies.com members were analyzed. The study found that for the first 5 years both sexes receive almost equal pay. But the wage gap increases as men and women move up the experience ladder. Women averaged approximately $5,000 less in annual pay than men. High tech positions such as engineers and software developers reported the smallest gender salary gaps. High demand for employees doesn't guarantee salary equity. The data management field is one of the hottest job markets, but data management scored the highest for gender pay inequity, with women earning only 84 percent of male salaries. Tech marketing and human resources jobs also scored poorly: HR women earned ~ $11,300 less than male coworkers, and marketing women earned ~ $7,900 less than men in the same or similar positions.

Women seem to get "stuck" on the career and salary ladder. The wage gap between senior tech professionals may occur because women get fewer promotions and don't move as often into management positions. According to InformationWeek Research, the difference in "average" IT salary increases for men and for women is negligible. Women did get raises 1.1% greater than those for men in staff positions, but 1.1% less than those for men in similar management positions.

IT Projected salaries 2000-2010 Women in Blue/ men in purple - Click on the image to view the original size.
Source: US Dept of Labor Women's Bureau

Employed US Computer Systems Analysts Women in Blue/ men in purple

Source: US Dept of Labor Women's Bureau

IT has a persistent image as a male dominated industry. There are definitely fewer women than men in IT. Although the U.S. leads the world in tech experienced women, studies indicate women currently only make up 20-30% of the IT industry. Women in general are less interested in the typical late night 7 day a week tech employee status and are under represented in high level and management jobs.

UK government encouraging women in IT. In 2004, the UK set up a national Resource Center for Women in Science Engineering and Technology to promote IT opportunities for women and challenge negative stereotypes about IT careers. The goal is to increase the number of women working in all levels of IT. The UK Office of National Statistics shows that women account for only 23 per cent of the IT workforce. Over one third of new technology recruits are women but they don't stay. The national resource center is intended to complement other programs such as the nationwide E-skills UK and Academic Computer Clubs for Girls.

High tech is a promising field for both men and women. Technical occupations offer women the opportunity for high pay with the smallest gender wage gap of any industry. Tech careers offer women high paying opportunities in a growing industry, key to the changing global economy.

Resources
Computer Weekly
The gender gap in yearly earnings: Is it lack of education or occupational segregation? By Gray, K. & Huang, N. Journal of Vocational Educational Research.
Information Week: Tech Web business technology network
Salary.com
Techies.com Salary Survey
UK Computing
University of California, Berkeley Gender Wage Gaps
US Dept of Labor Women's Bureau
Women's Tech World