Mind and Close the Gap - The curious case of women in Tech
By Aashna Bhatia
Women in tech aren't exactly scarce but being a women in a male-dominated industry always remains like an uphill battle. Women today make up just 17% of the tech workforce in the UK. A more pressing worry is the number of girls actually taking up STEM subjects which is dismal. Studies show that only 31% of STEM undergraduates are female, many of whom don’t specialise in technology. At the senior management level, there is a meagre 12.6% of women as board members of tech companies.
What is turning girls away from studying STEM, and from technology in particular?
Recent PwC research, that surveyed over 2,000 A Level and university students, found that only 27% of women would consider a career in tech and a mere 3% think of it as a first choice. This is despite there being no evidence that females lack the appropriate skills for a role in the tech sector or appetite for the healthy salaries available to them.
Time Recruitment in its report, mentioned a 2015 study that found more than half of the women who broke into tech ended up leaving for an entirely different sector. What is the main reason, you might wonder? More often than not, it is the culture of tech industries, the notion of it being an “exclusive boys club” is what makes women leave and not because the job was hard. Women who leave tech sectors often leave on account of being bullied, isolated, lack of feedback and little to no opportunity or room for growth.
There exists a dire need to change and improve the current tech situation and employment gap for women in STEM industries. There are certain improvements that could be made to ensure we have an equal representation and a renewed interest of women in tech industries,
Girls Who Code
1. WORK TO PROMOTE GENDER DIVERSITY and REDUCE GENDER BIAS
There now exists a number of organisations that ensure girls from a young age are given equal opportunities to venture into STEM fields. Organisations like Girls Who Code, 23 Code Street, CODEBAR.IO, Code First: Girls are actually working at the grassroots level to increase participation of girls in tech related concepts from a young age.
HR professionals should also aim to work with hiring managers to revamp job descriptions and focus on rephrasing the language in such a way that it speaks to both women and men. Traditional tech job descriptions are littered with masculine jargon, repelling strongly qualified women. Eliminating the gender gap is more than looking past the indicated gender on a resume or application, it’s proactively rephrasing the language used to speak to applicants.
The Financial Times recently interviewed Vodafone on how they reduced gender bias in their job descriptions across their global offices. The telecommunications company piloted a program replacing "masculine" words such as win, aggressive, kick and outstanding with more neutral and "feminine" ones such as bold, top-tier, extraordinary and improve. This simple initiative increased the number of women Vodafone recruited by 7% in just three months.
A lot of firms today engage in blinding the CV’s as a way to avoid unconscious gender bias.
It' s crucial companies understand the importance of promoting inclusivity. HR professionals can work in tandem with marketing teams and hiring managers to promote women leaders in tech as well as their female employees across their social media channels. They can also use the online space to promote internal happenings such as women's groups and events to garner more interest in the workplace.
2. CREATION OF A STRONG SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY
To keep women in tech, it is important that companies foster a working environment that makes women feel welcome in the workplace. Offering perks such as flexible working arrangements, improved maternity leave and an accessible returners programme should be more of a pre-requisite than a luxury in today’s world. There also needs to be specific programmes in place to ensure women don’t feel isolated, unsafe or unvalued at workplace.
Some successful changes that most companies have adopted have been mentorship programs, funding and supporting workshops, conferences and events that focus on women employees career path and enhancing their skill set. Some companies have invested in the inception of internal women-focused groups.
3. ENGAGING MEN WITH FEMINISM
There is no denying the fact that the majority of workforce of tech companies consist of men. Be it the management to the recruiters to even support or admin staff, there is an overwhelming male presence in the sector. While it is imperative for women to stand together and ensure that they have each others back and call out any injustice or wrong doings at workplace, the greater impact comes from men in technology. A strong management team and employees who empower and stand for the women in their team is the need for the hour. Instead of engaging in toxic and hostile behaviour towards women, companies must promote a culture of inclusivity and acceptance that includes preventative measures through training, inclusive language, a focus on equality and having specialised training for men to understand subtle toxic masculinity at workplace.
In my personal opinion, the future looks brighter than ever for women in tech. This is majorly due to the overwhelming support from male members of the community. There are more men than ever before who are choosing to be advocates for more women participation and employment in tech
We will discuss this topic at next We Hate Pink event “Engaging Men with Feminism” on Wednesday 20 November 2019 at 6:30pm at WeWork in Shoreditch.
Here’s to an equal, bright and tech filled future that can co-exist with both men and women!
AASHNA BHATIA
Writer for We Hate Pink
Masters student at London School of Economics, pursuing a degree in Gender, Media and Culture.
Aashna is writing about gender, media representation and trends. Focus on cultural practices across different countries and the psychology behind politics