Let's Get Technical

My Dad forwarded me this report on a survey conducted in the UK about women in technology related careers. They found that whilst 90% of both men and women working in tech reported to be happy in their career, only 1 in 7 members of any tech team were women.

The report's cover image.

The majority of both women and men think there should be more women working in tech, but there is disagreement about which factors are influencing the current numbers taking up careers in the sector. 65% of women currently working in tech feel that they have been discriminated against at some point in their career because of their gender - probably a big and real factor then.

Despite this a whopping 90% of women working in tech would recommend a career in this sector to other women. As a fast growing sector with potential for more and well paid jobs in the coming years, the question is how do you encourage more women to go into tech?

Roughly 2/3 of their respondents thought their business would benefit from more women working in the industry and, as a well paid sector, evening out the gender balance would help to diminish the gender pay gap that is still prevalent in the UK.

The solutions in the report? Education, pioneers and perception changes. Encouraging girls to study STEM (Science, technology, engineering and maths) at school will equip them with the skills and confidence to work in the sector. Then we need to highlight the women already doing it, which in turn will help to change perceptions of tech.

Some sound conclusions there and it's great to hear them coming from inside the sector!