Girls and young women in the US are dissuaded from pursuing careers in the high-tech industry by violent electronic games, dull programming classes and the public image of the IT industry as a "nerdy", antisocial wordd.

Girls and young women in the US are dissuaded from pursuing careers in the high-tech industry by violent electronic games, dull programming classes and the public image of the IT industry as a "nerdy", antisocial world. According to a new study from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), less than 28 percent of computer science graduates in the US are women, down from the 1984 high of 37 percent. Only 9 percent of engineering graduates are women. As a result, only 20 percent of IT professionals are women. The report, 'Tech-Savvy: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age', recommends that educational and recreational software and games should not be gender-specific and should be designed to appeal to a broad range of students and young people. Technology concepts and uses should be incorporated into a wide range of subjects, such as music and history, to capture girls' interest. Girls should also be encouraged to understand and design technological applications, rather than merely use them. This could encourage them to take up careers in IT, thereby helping to combat the skills shortage in the high-tech sector.