On returning from a recent holiday, one of my first tasks was to catch up on all the tech news I’d missed by scouring the IT Week web site. One of the first headlines that caught my eye was “Let’s get more ladies into IT”, an article in my colleague David Neal's blog. On first glance, I must admit to feeling a small sense of satisfaction at the prospect of this article. It’s always nice – although rare – to see one of my male colleagues taking such an interest in the women/IT issue.

But sadly this feeling soon subsided. The article wasn’t a debate on the benefits of more women entering the IT sector, or useful tips on how to attract and retain female tech workers – it was about a new IT Screen Goddesses calendar. The idea is to take real-life female IT workers and pose them as famous film characters, for example Princess Leia, and Sharon Stone in her notorious Basic Instinct shot.

The calendar makers argue that it will help smash the perception of geeky technologists and raise awareness of the diversity of women in IT. Profits raised will go to organisations promoting IT careers for women and girls.

The principles behind the calendar are admirable, but it could have the opposite effect, if it gives the impression that to get ahead in IT you need to take your clothes off or resemble a Hollywood babe.

There are some really useful schemes to promote women working in IT, helping to generate successful role models to add to the currently small pool of well-known female IT professionals. This year’s British Computer Society IT Professional Awards will have a Women in IT category for the third year running. And November will see the second annual BlackBerry Women and Technology Awards, with categories such as Best Use of Technology by a Female Entrepreneur and Best Company Advancing Women in Technology.

These schemes are relatively new, and hopefully within the next decade they will increase the number of female IT professionals, by encouraging more schoolgirls to take IT degrees and continue with the subject for a career. Present statistics make depressing reading: females represent under a fifth of the UK’s IT workforce, even though girls do better than boys at computer-related A Levels.

The more industry support such schemes garner, the more they can do to boost the number of female IT workers by celebrating success and creating role models. As well as considering sponsorship, attendance or nominations for the schemes, UK firms could help by setting up programmes to encourage female members of their IT teams to visit schools, colleges and universities, to demonstrate that the industry does have opportunities and attractions for women.

Maybe that way I’ll be able to take the IT Screen Goddesses calendar in the tongue-in-cheek way intended, rather than viewing it as a sad reminder of the difficulty women have in climbing the IT ladder or being drawn to the sector in the first place.