The drop out rate among girls (in my experience, not from statistics) is fairly high and the main culprit for this is that the few girls who do make it onto a CS degree or the like are on the wrong course and never intend to take up an industry job. Teaching seems to be a common goal for many of them with the degree just a means to an end so they can enter postgraduate teaching degrees. Two comp sci women I know rather better than the rest are without a doubt on the wrong course. They have no interest in programming, which lies at the core of a CS degree and indeed don't seem particularly interested in anything technical at all. It seems women fall into computing degrees as the last resort, rather than because of a burning passion for technology.

Admittedly, I fit the bill there. My childhood dream, and what I set about bringing to fruition in my later years at school, was to study veterinary medicine at university. Consequently I went down the sciences route and only took Computing because it fit into my timetable and seemed a better choice than the other subjects I could've taken. When it came to picking a degree, suddenly vet med didn't appeal any more and Computing seemed like a good fit as I'd developed a bit of a love of coding during my A-levels and just couldn't face the prospect of studying something dire like Chemistry and sitting in a lab playing with test tubes for the rest of my adult life. Plus I had a habit of exploding things in Chemistry. Supposedly safe and gentle reactions liked to disagree with what they were meant to do when I was in charge and usually resulted in volumes of toxic smoke pouring out the lab windows and holes in desks. Probably a wise choice not to pursue that career avenue any further.

But although I went into computing in a rather haphazard matter, I actually like it and fully intend to end up in a software development job when I graduate. At least in the short term. I have delusions of research grandeur and PhDs and a Nobel Prize or three wouldn't go amiss….ahem…get back on track girl… Sadly the few girls there are who are actually any good at what they do in IT, don't seem to share my enthusiasm for entering a "techy" job. This was brought home to me at a recent selection day at a major corporation where I was the only woman applicant for a programming role. The others who'd made it that far (3 out of 100 interviewees) were looking at entering business, marketing or sales. This is because girls have absolutely no idea what to expect from a CS degree and choose it when they shouldn't. Women get a vague idea that it involves computers at some level or another, think it won't be too difficult or hard work and end up spending 3 years wondering why they aren't spending more time learning packages like the dreaded Access or Excel. The information for girls just isn't there. I blame the British education system. Naturally. Although the US doesn't seem to be much better.

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