It is undeniably worrying that in 1984 women and girls form such a small, and diminishing, proportion of entrants to computer training and employment.

The first part of Rose Deakin's book is a concise and readable assessment of this problem. She begins by matching the characteristics needed for successful use of a computer with the qualities required by more traditional 'women's jobs', showing that women have much to gain and to contribute by greater involvement in the subject. She surveys the evidence that too few are taking up these opportunities, and examines some possible reasons - the way computers are seen and used at home and school, and presented by advertisements and the media.

It may be that the introduction of micros in schools has had an adverse effect - cuasing girls to adopt attitudes and make choices at an early age when they are too susceptible to group pressure to see where their real interests may lie. The author then proposes ways of changing both male and female attitudes, and to consider future variations on traditional work patterns.

The remainder of the book has a much narrower focus - it looks at opportunities for women to enter the computing field after child-rearing or other careers. Some suggestions make obvious sense: wordprocesing and book indexing are tasks which can be performed efficiently and economically at home, but I think the substantial prior training or experience required for successful freelance programming, consultancy or computer journalism is underestimated.

The final chapters contain brief factual summaries on computing terminology, current hardware and training courses; this information is obviously available elsewhere but it may be useful for the reader meeting the subject for the first time.