Firms at risk of losing women technologists

Gartner: Firms at risk of losing women technologists: "while women control or influence 80% of consumer spending decisions, 90% of IT products and services are designed by men -- a lopsided formula for "going out of business," says Gartner. Moreover, if organizations don't pay heed to their female technology workforce, women will take their IT acumen and good ideas elsewhere, meaning the looming IT skills crisis just got 50% worse.

To be fair, the Gartner study acknowledges that psychologists do not universally agree on many of the gender differences that tests and studies have purported to uncover. Nonetheless, Gartner singles out five gender-based traits CIOs should pay attention to when building IT staffs."