It's okay, they're only secretaries. Hey, why's my paycheck late again?

According to a recent report by the Information Technology Association of America, the fraction of women in the IT workforce has dropped precipitously in the last ten years.

The percentage of women in the IT workforce declined from a high of 41 percent in 1996 to 32.4 percent in 2004. Meanwhile, the percentage of women in the overall workforce remained largely unchanged, from 46 to 46.5 percent, during the same period.

The declining representation of women is due largely to the fact that one out of every three women in the IT workforce fall into administrative job categories that have experienced significant overall declines in recent years. When those categories are excluded from the analysis, the percentage of women in IT drops from 32.4% to 24.9%. The figures represent no progress in the numbers of women in the professional or management ranks from the relatively low 25.4% mark achieved in 2002.

According to ITTA's fascinating 2003 report on IT diversity, the percentage of female IT professionals has been a constant 25±ε% since 1996.