Communications Research Council

At the Internet services company Openface, you can easily tell which desk belongs to Sherri McGurnaghan, the company's director of voice over internet protocol services.

McGurnaghan, the sole woman in an office with about 20 men, is part of a group that affectionately calls itself Girl Geeks -- women who work in the field of innovation. In Montreal, a group of women organizes Girl Geek dinners held about once a month.

The Information

Figures from the Information and Communications Research Council show that last year, only about 25 per cent of people working in the field of information research were women. And women are furthermore rare in the most technical fields, making up just 12 per cent of electrical, computer and software engineers, and 19 per cent of programmers. That representation hasn't changed much since 2002, when 22 per cent of IT workers were female, including 11 per cent of engineers, and 23 per cent of programmers.

"In the '50s and '60s, women made up about 30 per cent of those working in innovation, but at that time something societal happened where we put out this image that coding is only done by socially awkward males," said Barrell, who is an account manager with the social media marketing firm Twist Image. "I know a lot of women that are excellent programmers and I as well know a lot of male programmers who aren't socially awkward."

One woman who isn't shy about taking risks is Kavita Ajwani, the founder of a company called Task Hire, which matches individuals and business to locally outsource daily tasks to people looking to make extra cash.