More than half of the women in science, engineering and IT leave the field at midcareer. Here's the reason.
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IT is a male-dominated field. There are a lot of reasons for this, but they don't really matter because it's just a fact. And IT teams are generally highly stressed, so as stress relief there are usually all kinds of odd jokes and games that are played. It's how it goes, and for the most part it's fun.
Then a woman is hired and gets introduced the team. What happens next? What SHOULD happen next?
The feminists would say that the men need to grow up and anything that might be seen as sexist should cease immediately. The woman should be treated as an equal and be a respected part of the team, right?
But if the goal is equality, then why does the team need to change their culture because a woman walks through the door? Why can't she join in or brush it off? A lot of jobs come with a culture that people need to adapt to in order to fit in. I think anyone switching careers (no matter what they go into) should not only consider the job itself, but the culture. If you don't like suits, don't be an executive. If you don't like seeing little Japanese Anime dolls on desks in provocative poses, don't join IT.
