Klao Bell, Staff Reporter
THE Government's offer to train people for jobs in information technology is attracting more men than women, in the computer programming department.
More women, however, are registered in basic computer classes.
There are 60 women and 143 men enrolled in computer programming courses in Kingston and Montego Bay.
While there are 1,235 females and 459 males enrolled in the HEART co-ordinated introductory computer courses across the island.
Basic computer training prepares them for jobs in data entry and telemarketing while their male counterparts are on the way to "real money", high-tech jobs as programmers and Web page designers.
Global trend
But this follows a global pattern where women are still playing catch up to men in this field, according to Dr. Leachim Semaj, industrial psychologist.
"This scenario represents a global trend where men dominate the computer industry... they are attracted to programming because it appeals to power and control, making something out of nothing, creating solutions, logical thinking... they reject data entry type jobs because of the monotony and the fact that they lead to low-paying call centre jobs."
According to Hu-Jean Russell, a student pursuing Excelsior Commercial College's programming course, "It is the key to power, programmers will determine what jobs are necessary in the future because we will create software to do human tasks."
There were similar responses from many of the 39 males enrolled in the programming class, which is in its third month.
They said they "like computers" or "have a knack for it". But the responses from three of the 11 women in the class were different. They saw it as a strategic career move.
Barbara Jones said "On entering the class, I wondered where all the women were...it probably indicates that women are not taking IT seriously."
Recently laid off, Mrs. Jones sees the programming as "a growth area which will increase my chances of getting and keeping a job".
Another female student said that the fact that the programme runs from 9:00 a.m., to 4:00 p.m., kept another friend from coming, as she could not afford to quit her job to attend school full time.
No 'natural thing'
Dr. Barbara Bailey, Regional Co-ordinator for the Centre for Gender Studies at the University of the West Indies, is concerned that this pattern will once again restrict women economically.
"The economic implication of this pattern does not augur well for women, as always women get pushed into the lower paying sectors of the labour market," Dr. Bailey said.
She dismisses a common notion that there is a "natural tendency" of men toward technical areas. She said that there is a clear disadvantage in the way women are socialised.
"There is no natural thing about men dominating in programming, nothing to do with biology or maleness or femaleness, it's how women are socialised," Dr. Bailey said.
Her research has shown that females are streamlined in the less technical area from secondary school.
She gave an example, "At CXC there are two levels of IT, technical and general - the technical area deals with basic skills and are dominated by females, the general proficiency which is more detailed is dominated by males."
At the Work Force Development Consortium, where introductory computer courses are taught, the males say they are taking the basic computer courses as a step toward further training in the field, while the females said it would enhance their marketability.
A check with some companies showed that programmers earn annually, an average of $720,000 upward. Data entry clerks make an average starting salary of $2,500 per week.
Recent reports in The Gleaner revealed that Netserv, one of the companies to set up call centres in Jamaica, will pay its workers $10,000 per month, while programmers are expected to be paid in U.S. dollars.
