Recent figures show that only 5,604 female students are currently enrolled in university computing courses, compared to 24,908 male students. In other words, for every one woman study computing, there are just over five men: the lowest proportion of female computing students in recent years. With so few girls graduating with these vital technical skills, the UK economy is missing a number of opportunities for growth, innovation and success. These figures seem to fly in the face of increased efforts to encourage girls into computing, from the recent Hour of Code and the Your Life programme, to computing clubs for girls and the new school programming curriculum. So why aren’t existing programmes to encourage girls to participate in STEM working?

Rainbow PUSH successfully challenged companies to release their workforce diversity data. The racial and gender composition in their boardrooms, C-suites and workforce has been researched. The data is undeniable, and underscores the systemic under-representation of Blacks, Latinos, and women in the industry, claimed Rev. Jackson at a technology forum at Intel Corporation. Most companies have between zero and 3 percent Blacks in their tech workforce; virtually the same for their non-tech workforce. Of the 20 companies they researched, there were only three African Americans out of 189 total [on the] board directors; just one Latino, one hundred and fifty-three men and just 36 women. Eleven (over half) have all-White boards. Of 307 top C-suite leaders, there are just six African Americans and three Latinos. Two hundred and forty-four men and just 65 women. Seven of the 20 companies have all-White leadership.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was an age of Super Bowl victories and ridesharing disputes, an age of foolish statements about women in tech and rocket explosions. Welcome to GeekWire’s 2014 Year in Review - compiled through the top quotes of the year. As you’ll see below, it was quite a year in technology. Enjoy, and thanks for reading GeekWire.

The recent gender gaffe by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella illustrates the blind spots within an organization that can subtly undermine inclusion of women. When speaking at a women-in-computing conference this fall, he indicated that women don’t need to ask for pay raises; instead they should trust the system to pay them what they are worth. In reacting to instant criticism, he said he was repeating what he has been told early in his career and had no idea it would be bad advice for women.

The recently released CEPIS study highlights strong competence mismatches amongst ICT professionals and reiterates the gender imbalance.The average European ICT professional is 42 years old and across Europe, only 15% of ICT professionals are women and ICT Trainer, Project Manager is the priority position.

This workshop gives women individual strategies for navigating workplaces that are shaped by implicit bias. Drawing on 35 years of experimental social psychology studies, it boils them down into four patterns. What Works for Women teaches us to recognize the patterns and also offers them very concrete strategies for how to navigate these patterns successfully. Individual Strategies are not solutions, however, knowing how to identify gender bias and understanding how to overcome this bias is key to a woman’s success. The webinar will give you with a deeper understanding of: workplace practices that suggest bias that will impact career success, frameworks to examine workplace pattern prior to acting on them and information how to use an understanding of implicit bias to reduce frustration and increase career success.

Interesting interview with Janet Bandows Koster who leads AWIS, an organisation that champions the interests of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics across all disciplines and employment sectors. Working for positive system transformation, the Association strives to ensure that all women in these fields can achieve their full potential.

Although women haven’t traditionally had a significant presence in the information technology sector, the combination of increased reliance on technology and intensified recruiting efforts of companies in every industry has flipped this trend on its head throughout the past decade. Case in point: Computer systems analyst is one of the best jobs for women in 2014, according to a recent CareerCast report. The 12 jobs highlighted in the report are standouts because they employ a large percentage of women and offer competitive pay and positive hiring outlooks over the next eight years. For example, computer systems analysts earn a median annual salary of $79,680, and employment in the field is expected to increase by 25 percent through 2022. This projected rise is due in large part to technology’s shift from its place as merely the support function of a company to the core of the business, a movement that has occurred across all industries. Technology has infiltrated practically every corner of the corporate world and is crucial to the smooth running of the workplace. And more women in particular have entered the IT sector in the 21st century, especially as computer systems analysts, for two reasons, according to Tony Lee, CareerCast’s publisher. The first is that “more women are actually interested in IT now; they’re majoring and getting experience in the field.”

Using the most up-to-date occupational research, this guide has been produced to showcase 40 top jobs in 10 key occupations that our analysis of the UK job market suggests will be crucial over the next decade. The aim is to inspire young people about the wide range of jobs that are out there, inspiration which they can use when mapping a career pathway.

Global Innovation team have launched an innovation challenge specifically for young women between 13 -18 years old who want to get involved in Innovation with particular focus on the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT refers to the idea that by 2020 there will be 50 billion devices connected to the internet which will make life more efficient, solve new business problems and better people’s lives. The Challenge is to identify current problems of today or that could occur in the next 5 years and then create ideas or a solution to demonstrate how technologies from the Internet of Things can cut through many industries to improve education, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, retail, transportation, smart cities. The aim of the challenge is to recognize, promote, and reward young innovators as they come up with new uses for Internet of Things technologies. It is a great opportunity for young women to demonstrate that they have great ideas around this emerging technology as well as win some fantastic prizes.