By revamping technology stereotypes, these groups hope to curb labor shortages that are in danger of crimping their countries' future business success. If, however, you think glamorizing geekdom is a tougher challenge than hyping a California attorney lifestyle, you're right. He was referring to a finding from a recent survey of women in the United Kingdom done by the nonprofit group E-skills NTO . And that's a serious problem. By 2003 the United Kingdom will have over 330,000 unfilled technology positions, causing losses in excess of 6 billion pounds per year to economic output.
Women tend to view technology careers as isolated, uncool, boring jobs, according to the UK survey.
The study also showed that women, be they young or old, see tech jobs as a path toward antisocial behavior, unexciting lives, and even a driving factor for divorce. Now the challenge is just to show how technology is approachable and useful as well. To dissipate the perception of some of the more daunting aspects of a tech career, Conway's organization, with the Australian Information Industry Association , prepared a proposal for government bodies to use television and films as a tool for bringing a little panache to the geek scene. Both EISA and AIIA will push producers and writers to develop tech characters in their shows, depicting suave, social geeks driving fast cars, living a swanky life, and interacting well with others. The groups also aim to work with mainstream women's publications to present more-appealing images of technology workers.