Why are there so few women working in tech...
Diversity is important in every industry because it allows different voices to be heard, opinions to be challenged and perspectives to be shared. Actually, the tech sector is one of the better performing sectors regarding diversity, however, it is still lacking proportional female representation. It, too, still has a long way to go in addressing diversity and inclusion fully.
And although the tech industry is constantly evolving and growing, it can be seen that the number of women working in tech is not expanding at the same speed. So, it’s important to recognise that although gender diversity has increased over the years, it is still majorly male dominated and lacking in gender diversity.
As someone who is new to the tech industry, I feel as a woman it is important to address this issue head on and really delve deeper into the many issues we as women face working in the tech sector. When I joined FaultFixers back in April, I was made aware from the start that I was joining a small team of only eight with one other female. However, my manager and I can both agree that luckily we feel seen and heard within our team. However, this is unfortunately not the case for all women working in tech.
According to the TrustRadius 2021 Women in Tech Report women are still vastly outnumbered by men, with 72% of women saying they are outnumbered by men 2 to 1. When speaking to Frankie, our Marketing Lead here at FaultFixers, she shared with us that the gender imbalance has been greatly noticeable throughout the 7 years she has worked in the tech industry. She goes on to say “I am often the only woman in the room and when I am not it's a shock”.
The report goes on to say that 78% of women feel that they need to work harder than men in order to feel worthy. Additionally, 2 in 5 women feel that gender bias is an obstacle to promotion. Often, women feel that they need to speak louder, work harder and act quicker in order to be taken seriously and get their points across. This can be extremely frustrating and exhausting for women, not to mention battling the huge issue with the gender pay gap as well.
In order to ensure that the representation of women in tech diversifies, we need to identify what needs to be addressed:
There needs to be more open roles for women in the tech sector, varying from entry level positions to management roles. Teams need to be diverse and varied to boost creativity and challenge each other's opinions.
It’s important to have more tech groups led by women, easily accessible training offered to women and mentorship programmes available. This is hugely important so women feel supported and are given guidance while navigating through roles in the tech industry. A good example of female-led tech groups is the amazing work by Margaret Anne Coyle and Perdie Alder of SpiceStartus - if you’ve not heard of them, check them out here
It is clear that fewer females choose to study a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subject during further education as they are heavily male dominated, therefore leading to the lack of women in these industries. Schools need to be focusing on tackling the stereotypes of these subjects, encouraging their female students and reassuring them that they are capable of succeeding in these sectors.
Although there have been some significant improvements over the years with more representation of women in the workplace, there is still a long way to go.
Having a diverse and inclusive workforce can only bring about positive outcomes and benefit businesses hugely. Here at FaultFixers we encourage all businesses to have a diverse team full of people from different backgrounds, with different perspectives and from all walks of life.
