Female workers need to be encouraged to consider a degree within the IT industry, it has been suggested.

Jan Peters, manager of British Computer Society (BCS) Women’s Forum, stated that the opportunities and awards that are available from such a career are largely unknown to women.

According to the expert, the IT sector should aim to appeal to females from a young age.

She commented: "We need to be encouraging girls to look at a broader selection of apprenticeships, so we are not just looking at people going into IT and computing through degree route, but through the whole spectrum."

Ms Peters added that the message needs to be sent to young girls that there are opportunities in IT.

Established in 1957, the BCS is a body for those working in IT and it claims to have more than 60,000 members in over 100 countries around the world.