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The IT Girl

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Ann Moffatt spent a lifetime in the computer industry in the United Kingdom and Australia, rising to the top of her profession at a time when women were second class citizens in business and in technology. She succeeded through hard work, intelligence, and an unquenchable belief that ultimately she would succeed on her merits.

Through her career, she faced subtle and not-so-subtle sexual discrimination on many levels. She never let it get her down, proving by example that it was unwarranted and showing other women the path to equality.

Her personal life was also marked by poor treatment, which she overcame with remarkable equanimity. She never complained but got on with the job, and with life.

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Always in stock. “Printed On Demand” in Australia by Intertype

SKU: Book0254 Categories: , Tags: , , Product ID: 2225

Description

I had the pleasure of working with the author for eight years starting in the 1960s when we both had young children. Ann was my company’s Technical Director and I was – in theory at least– her boss. That was in an age when women were viewed as second class citizens requiring male authorisation for financial transactions and debarred from some professional activities. There were few part-time jobs with any intellectual challenge so it was usual for women to leave work on marriage or when their first child was expected. What a waste of skilled resources!

I founded Freelance Programmers (one of the UK’s first high-tech startups) as a crusade for women returners rather than to make my fortune. Study after study has shown that women’s two priorities in the workplace are flexibility and work/life balance. We provided these in the extreme.

Ann was dubbed the ‘IT Girl’, meaning both Information Technology and (the original meaning) attractive young woman with ‘it’ – sex appeal and an engaging personality. I often used my nickname Steve to get through the door before anyone realised that ‘he’ was a ‘she’. I got teased with headlines about ‘Steve and her birds’ (bird also being Pom slang for a sexually attractive or promiscuous young woman).

Things have moved on since we both worked in that pioneering social enterprise. But today there is still an acute waste of female talent in an industry that is desperate to recruit and retain skilled staff. Freelance Programmers – and that is exactly what the company was in its early years – helped me, helped Ann, and helped hundreds of women to contribute to the IT industry.

The percentage of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has been depressingly low in most countries, and sunny Australia is no exception. The pace of change towards a fairer and more diverse labour force remains slow. Massive changes in the workplace are needed if we are to move to gender equality.

Dame Stephanie Shirley CH DBE FREng FBCS

Henley-on-Thames, England August 2020

 

Always in stock. “Printed On Demand” in Australia by Intertype

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