Ginni Rometty, the first female CEO in IBM's century-long history, is leaving the helm in April. Rometty, 62, will remain IBM's executive chairwoman until the end of the year. Her departure, announced Thursday, caps nearly 40 years with a technology giant famous for its conservative corporate culture. Rometty became IBM CEO eight years ago after previously overseeing sales and marketing. As of this month, Rometty was one of 29 female CEOs leading S&P 500 companies, according to data from Catalyst, a nonprofit for women in business. IBM said the company's commitment to diversity and inclusion advanced under Rometty's leadership.

Google "construction worker" images and you'll see a lot of stock art, of men carrying lumber and standing in front of excavators with their arms crossed--even the Village People, if you scroll down far enough. But you'll have to search for something like "construction worker woman" to find more females in hard hats, including photos that look more like inspiration for a sexy Halloween costume. See the woman pulling her pigtail, two traffic cones on her chest a la Madonna? Or the one wearing a tight, low-cut top, hammer raised, hand on her hip? A few years ago, a team of researchers at the University of Washington wondered how image search results for occupations like construction worker and receptionist represented gender.

The following is a condensed and edited interview with Ginni Rometty, CEO, IBM. You joined IBM 35 years ago. What was the company like back then? What struck me was the seriousness of the kind of things we did. We were building complex back-office banking systems.