IT jobs "very sexy indeed" says Commissioner Reding

The European Union's information society commissioner Viviane Reding has an idea how to make up the shortfall of 300,000 skilled information and communication technology personnel in Europe: encourage more women to enter the industry.

"We have to convince young women that ICT isn't just for geeks. IT jobs can be very sexy indeed," Reding told journalists at the Commission's briefing Thursday.

Women accounted for 58 percent of all graduates in the EU in 2004, up from 55 percent in 1998. However, the proportion of female computer science graduates fell by 4 percent during the same period, Reding said.

"Looking at engineering, even though the total number of graduates is rising and the share of female engineering graduates is growing, women still only accounted for 19 percent of the total number of graduates in this field in 2004," Reding said.

The Commissioner met representatives of prominent ICT companies Wednesday and together they agreed to launch a European code of best practice for women in ICT within a year.