Shifting attitudes towards IT careers.

A familiar nursery rhyme tried to capture the essence of what it means to be a little girl: Sugar and spice and everything nice.

But that recipe needs to be updated for 2001 to include competence with mainframes, Web applications and URLs.

While men still largely dominate the field of information technology (IT), more women today are following career paths in IT than they did years ago.

Marjorie MacDonald, an information systems professional (ISP) is a senior systems analyst for Algonquin Automotive/Hidden Hitch in Huntsville, Ont., and when any of the company's 200 computer users need help, MacDonald is the one to call.

What does a systems analyst do?

"The question is what do I not do," MacDonald says.

Working the help desk phone line is just one of her tasks. In a company with about 200 computer users, the phone can get quite busy.

On a really good day, the help desk gets about nine calls, but on a bad day, such as the shutdown of the network for even a few minutes, MacDonald has received up to 40 calls. At least half of the problems can be solved over the phone.

There are five systems analysts, each having their own specialties. MacDonald's specialties include wiring, programming, phone and voice mail.

Several of MacDonald's high school friends now have careers in health care, a field that has traditionally attracted more women than men.

High school experiences may partly explain that trend, MacDonald says. But it wasn't what teachers said that made the difference. It was what they didn't say.

"In high school, if a girl gives up on math and sciences, no one's there to encourage them," she says.

Fortunately, math and science came easily for MacDonald. Her parents also held no stereotypes about what career paths were most appropriate for women or men.

"I've got to credit my mom and dad for never allowing us to have that attitude," MacDonald says.

MacDonald was introduced to the world of computers in Grade 4 when her school purchased VIC 20 computers.

"We couldn't do much with them, but we had fun," she says.

It seemed like an "amazing leap" when her parents bought a Commodore 64 computer.

While pursuing math and computer science degrees at the University of Waterloo, MacDonald was fortunate to find a fair number of women in the program, both as students and faculty.

"If I remember back to my classes, they were about one-third women," MacDonald says.

Despite being surrounded by men in the university program and later in the field, MacDonald says she has never felt as if she's in the minority.

In fact, she is still surprised to see articles written about women facing barriers when they try to enter traditionally male-dominated careers.

That surprise seems to suggest women in IT have come a long way in the past 20 years, she adds.

MacDonald holds an ISP certificate from the Canadian Information Processing Society(CIPS).

Established in 1958, CIPS is an organization of Canadian IT professionals, including systems designers, lawyers, engineers, programmers and computer sciences students. It represents over 8,000 members in 30 cities, about 24 per cent of whom are women.

CIPS issues information systems professional (ISP) certificates. To be eligible, the applicant must have at least two years of post-secondary training and between two to seven years of professional experience. The number of years of education and experience required varies depending on Whether or not the institution is accredited by CIPS.

When MacDonald began working at Algonquin Automotive, her employer encouraged her and the other employees to join CIPS.

Possessing an ISP certificate has been a definite asset to MacDonald. "One advantage is the networking," MacDonald says. "I'm meeting people across Ontario and across Canada who do the same thing and have the same concerns I do."

CIPS conducted several focus groups in the Toronto area that indicated most 13 to 14-year-old girls still think either IT is for boys only, or that an IT

professional sits at a computer all day.

Those discoveries led to a one-day Women in IT workshop on Mar. 8 on International Women's Day.

The workshop involved several keynote speakers, all of whom were women in IT careers. The women spoke to over 750 girls in Grades 8 and 9 from schools in the Toronto and Peel School Boards.

Similar events were held in other CIPS member cities, including Edmonton, Alta., Ottawa and Fredericton, N.B.

MacDonald hopes high schools will do more to encourage young women to pursue careers in maths and sciences. When girls are not educated about their options, many assume professions in math and science are out of their reach, she adds.

Women account for a mere 18 per cent of students enrolled in university-level computer science courses.

"It's easy to say 'I've always thought I'd do this (nursing or teaching)' and not pursue other things," MacDonald says.

Of the five systems analysts at Algonquin Automotive, two are women.

Occasionally, people are still surprised when they find out what MacDonald does for a living.

"Older people are more surprised, and it goes back to the hundred-year-old idea that women belong in the house or in traditional careers as child care providers or teachers," MacDonald says.

While there may be a misconception that all IT careers are alike, MacDonald says students in IT programs have the option to choose courses that would lead them to IT careers in business, banking and various other fields.

After working for Ernst & Young in Toronto during her co-operative placement, MacDonald was hired by the company and stayed for a year until she was offered the job in Huntsville.

To the naysayers who told MacDonald she would never find a job in her field in Huntsville, she says "it's been a pleasure to prove them wrong."

Why aren't more women in IT?

Faye West, ISP, is the president of CIPS. West attributes the dearth of women in IT to a number of factors.

Statistics show many girls tend not to take science or math in high school because they don't have role models. By cutting their science studies short in high school, these girls don't have the prerequisite to take university level maths and sciences, thereby disqualifying themselves from prosperous careers in the computer science or IT field.

"It's a decision made at the junior high level that cuts them out of that career path," West says.

Boys also tend to have an advantage since most computer games are designed for them. If there are any female characters in the games, they tend to be violent female counter-parts to the male, or helpless victims in need of a hero, says West.

Often, the family computer is in the boy's bedroom, making it difficult for the girls in the family to access it, she adds.

But there is a bright side, says West. Girls and boys are both using the Internet in increasing numbers.

"While that doesn't necessarily mean those girls will go into IT careers, being comfortable with any technology makes it more likely to lead to girls pursuing those careers," West says.