New research from Intellect has revealed that female IT workers feel they are not getting equal treatment on the salary scale compared to their male counterparts.

The Perceptions of Equal Pay 2007 study, which was based on the views of 368 IT workers, highlighted that more than half of female respondents felt their pay was not comparable to male colleagues performing a similar role. Furthermore, 35 percent of respondents had evidence of this pay discrepancy.

The need for more transparency over pay structures was clearly indicated by the survey. More than half of respondents said that pay structures in their organisation lacked transparency, while 81 percent argued that equal pay audits should be obligatory for firms.

However, the results painted a brighter picture for career development. Seventy-one percent of respondents felt they would be treated fairly if applying for a promotion.

Gillian Arnold, a sales manager at IBM, warned that the perceived pay inequality was a barrier to women entering the IT sector. “From my experience working in the technology industry, I know that most women will start to look elsewhere if they perceive a pay gap, and that elsewhere is likely to be outside the industry,” she added.

The prospect of a further fall in the number of female IT workers could be worrying news for an industry already struggling to fill skills gaps in certain fields, and with the threat of more skills shortages looming on the horizon. According to Intellect, women currently account for only 16 percent of the IT workforce, while the European Commission has predicted that the IT industry will face a shortfall of 300,000 workers by 2010.