The number of female computer professionals in the UK has dipped by nearly 37,000 (6%) since 2001, according to research by the British Computer Society (BCS).

The BCS, which published the figures in its guide to retaining women in IT, said the women represent a pool of talent which could help alleviate the industry’s much publicised skills shortage.   
 
The number of women computing professionals peaked at 229,440 in 2001, representing 23% of the UK’s computing professional workforce at that time. By last year however, this had fallen to 192,580. This is despite the fact the overall number of UK IT professionals grew from 989,120 to 1,034,290 during the same period.

The guide Returners and Re-entrants: Making the Most of a Lost Talent Pool, published in association with Intellect, points out that having too few women in IT teams could also hit a company’s bottom line, by affecting its ability to secure public sector contracts.
 
BCS Women’s Forum manager Dr Jan Peters says: “Credit crunch or not, IT industry leaders are still predicting skills shortages. And yet the number of women exiting the IT profession continues to rise alarmingly, mainly due to the lack of flexibility offered by employers.”