NEW YORK (TheStreet) --One of the pivotal talking points at this year's Grace Hopper Women in Computing Celebration, spearheaded by the Anita Borg Institute, is closing the gender gap in the tech space.
This year's conference is being held in Houston and CNBC's Julia Boorstin reported from the event to explain why the need to address the gender divide is in focus.
"Just 23% of U.S. technical jobs are held by women and more than 15,000 women will gather here to work on closing that tech gender divide," Boorstin noted.
Some of the problems causing the dived are that women are twice as likely to leave tech jobs than men are, in part, due to poor working conditions and poor work-life integration, according to the Anita Borg Institute.
"The educational pipeline is grim as well. Only 18% of computer science majors are female, that's down from 37% in 1984 and it could get worse if nothing is done to encourage women in this field," Boorstin said.
The number of women within the tech sector is estimated to decline 22% by the year 2025, representing a 15% drop from 1995.
"But, plenty of companies are already taking steps in the right direction. The Anita Borg Institute ranking Google, (GOOGL) Intel (INTC), and IBM (IBM) among the top companies for women, and highlighting the best practices for hiring and retention," Boorstin added.
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