A CEB study has found women represent 30 percent of the federal information technology workforce and are underepresented in the senior leadership of federal IT departments, FCW reported Friday.Jean Martin and Kris van Riper, respectively an executive director and a managing director at CEB, write research also indicated that a gender-diverse workforce motivates employees to stay in their organization as well as go “above and beyond” what they expect.
They recommended that federal human resource managers use targeted classifieds or a networking strategy to increase the number of female science, technology, engineering and math employees in their organizations.
HR personnel should also apply metrics when they evaluate job candidates and conduct blind application reviews to avoid gender bias, according to the two CEB directors.
Martin and van Riper believe agencies could also narrow the federal IT gender gap through career discussions with rising women executives and research on what motivates female workers.
“Understanding what drives women and adapting that insight to the agency’s culture are essential to attracting and retaining women,” they added.
