Cloud computing presents an opportunity for women who are not as heavily focused on the architectural design, and how bits and bytes move through the organization, says JJ DiGeronimo, a veteran of IT and director of global cloud solutions at VMware. Well still need women who are technical, but cloud provides the chance to also champion ideas and work cross-functionally to define how IT is delivered to business. Skills, she believes, are a strong suit of many women.

The U.S. Department of Labor predicts that by 2020 there will be nearly available what should be a golden opportunity for women to fill out ITs ranks.

Yet, according to a 2010 report published by the , the percentage of computing occupations held by women has been declining since 1991, when it reached a high of 36 percent.

The picture is not any rosier if you look at education. Women comprised fewer than 20 percent of 2011 PhD graduates in computer science, computer engineering and information science, according to Computing Research Associations report. Only slightly better, 30 percent of masters degree recipients in the same subjects were women. Worst of all, less than 13 percent of bachelors degrees were awarded to women.