Do you feel there are difficult aspects to being a female working in a male-dominated industry like IT? If so, what are they and how have you handled them?

Where do I start?

I have had problems with lecturers making assumptions about female students, as well as other students cracking jokes about the few girls in the class. The boys I was studying with were never happy that I kept beating them in assignments and exams. At the beginning of first year, there were maybe 20 female students out of 150 students. By the end of first year, this had dropped to about eight. By the time we graduated, I think there were only about four of us left. The environment was just not a pleasant one for females who were not as thick-skinned as I am. I just ignore people when they get sexist, and I am not the type to be intimidated by that type of behavior.

What do you think the stereotype of an IT professional is?

The stereotype is definitely the young, spotty male who has a hard time communicating with anything other than a computer, and most likely wears glasses. The mainstream media doesn't help this image at all either. There is a television ad on TV here in Perth for a computer company, and the "star" of the ad is a very geeky looking guy who calls himself "Bill 'Rusty' Gates", who has red hair, glasses, wears a shirt, tie and pocket protector, and speaks with a bad American accent. My daughter and I both groan loudly when any of those ads come on.