According to KPMG and Markit’s latest report on the technology industry, the tech sector outperformed the UK economy in terms of job creation and business activity. In fact, hiring in tech is close to its strongest for over three years.
“With a huge range of diverse roles, technology is an extremely exciting industry to be a part of,” explains Claire Vyvyan, one of only three executive directors and general managers at Dell UK. “But despite this, only 17 per cent of women work in technology. This is an astonishing figure given IT’s ever growing presence in our everyday lives.”
The core issue, it seems, is the under-representation of women who currently make up less than one fifth of the IT workforce.
The Centre for Economic and Business Research believes that by increasing the number of women working in IT alone, the industry could generate an extra £2.6bn a year for the UK economy. These findings emphasise the real benefits of encouraging women to learn more about this innovative and ever-growing sector.
Pat Nice, CEO of Reconnix, explains that the Cebr research highlights an “IT skills gap that threatens the future of the UK running a competitive and efficient IT industry. It appears that by re-evaluating the way we encourage young females, we can not only close this gap but also boost the economy.”
But does this mean that technology is still a male dominated field?
“Having worked in IT for over 20 years, and been the only female in the room on many occasions, I can say with some certainty that we haven’t yet resolved the challenge of attracting an equal balance of men and women into the industry,” said Monique Morrow, CTO of Cisco Services and supporter of Cisco Networking Academy.
Patricia Finlayson, Senior Solution Product Marketing Manager at Polycom echoes the sentiment that although the attitude to women is steadily phasing out of our society, it’s still there and is something that needs to change. “I hate to admit it, but really it’s sexism,” she told Real Business. “When I worked in technical support – and this was some time ago now – I’d get out a screwdriver and be asked by the men in the room if I really knew how to use it!”
Our difference in attitudes, however, can perhaps be explained by Moore’s law, which describes the exponential growth of computing power; men are obsessed with form, technicalities and speed.
“Technology to boys starts very young,” suggests Dave Wallace, CEO of Heath Wallace. “It’s the very definition of a self-fulfilling prophecy; technology is male dominated, so it makes things that appeal to the male mind. As a dad of five (two girls and three boys) this has always played on my mind. I recently sat talking to my daughters about what they wanted to do when they were older and it hit me that, even in this day and age, gender prejudice might make their working life much harder than for my sons.”
Katherine Riddell, co-founder at social media analytics tool BirdSong agrees. “It starts at an early age. At my 15-year-old daughter’s school IT club, it is mostly young male geeks coding away and building things. By the age of 18, boys are already very sophisticated technologists. Of the women who do go in to tech companies, too few hang around long enough. Men come in with an abundance of confidence and less fear of making mistakes, leaving women fighting to get heard.”
Which brings us back to the original question about gender imbalance. Why is tech a boys club?
Indeed, traditionally children show leanings towards particular career paths from young ages, with research showing that there is still a gender bias in the subjects chosen by boys and girls at school.
To quote Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg: “We don’t raise our daughters to be as ambitious as our sons. Last month, there were t-shirts sold at Gymboree that said ‘Smart like Daddy’ for the boys and ‘Pretty like Mommy’ for the girls! Not in 1951. Last month!”
Pat Nice, CEO, Reconnix believes the idea that everyone in technology needs to be a Maths genius, a ‘geek’ or seen as ‘super brainy’ must first be debunked to encourage more females to join the sector. “Being technology illiterate in this day and age won’t get anyone very far. In fact, the tech sector has evolved to become an extremely creative industry where one can create code, design websites, develop fantastic user experiences and design games just to name a few outlets.”
It seems that there is still a cultural perception of the technology sector being ‘uncool’ and that the value of role models is enormously important. Simply enough, are there enough tech female role models?
The women on BBC Radio 4’s 2013 power list may have done some astounding things but in regards to inspiring the next generation of female leaders, its questionable how influential they are. With a few exceptions – the Queen and Victoria Beckham – young girls didn’t know what most of the women on the list did for a living.
Riddell suggests that successful techies are not inspiring role models for young women. “My daughter has never heard of Marissa Mayer or Sheryl Sandberg and doesn’t think Mark Zuckerberg is aspirational; they just aren’t cool or glamourous. Her idol is Fleur de Force, a fashion and beauty vlogger with 174,000 Twitter followers. Technology needs people young women can relate to.”
Attending local schools to give presentations, volunteering at youth centres to help with computer courses or blogging about the technology you love and encouraging your own kids to go down the IT route can all help towards an image overhaul.
Marrow states that she only “became interested in technology because of [her] curiosity and encouragement from wonderful individuals who helped pave the way. I wouldn’t have got there without the help and support of mentors, both male and female, and neither will the next generation.”
But this isn’t the only way to encourage a positive tech image. “It is also worth considering the introduction of a scheme to give second career opportunities to mothers seeking a return to work after years rearing children, a bit like an adult apprenticeship,” believes Nice. “This would help to identify those which had a natural aptitude and had not pursued this avenue previously. This group has the potential to influence the technology workers of the future and it could be very powerful.”
But while the industry still has some way to go, things are moving in the right direction. Joy Gardham, Regional Director, EMEA West of Brocade lists the “growing number of excellent role models for women” and the “many fantastic initiatives looking to address the under-representation of women in technology,” as the key stepping stone areas that could potentially decrease the gender gap. “A lot of this started from the ground up with organisations such as Women Who Code, but we are now seeing investment from the top as well, with the UK government supporting the Your Life campaign to encourage more young women to study STEM subjects and pursue tech careers.”
Anna Marie Taylor, marketing manager at Alba Innovation Centre echoes the sentiment, by stating although it is disappointing that women don’t feel drawn to the technology sector as it an excellent market to be in, It is encouraging nonetheless “to see that the universities and colleges have redesigned and launched a number of new technology courses which are aimed at attracting women and groups such as “Girl Geek Scotland” actively looks to provide a platform for women in the Tech Sector in Scotland to collaborate.”
Indeed, Elizabetta Camilleri, co-founder and CEO, SalesGossip says: “Women are under-represented in some areas of the technology industry: that’s undeniable. However, I know from first-hand experience that many more women work in this sector than you might expect. There is a common misconception that careers in technology are limited to highly specialised fields such as software architecture or web development.
“But the reality is very different; the industry’s parameters are increasingly broad, and so perceptions of what constitutes a tech career need to change. If you’re a woman involved in product creation, planning or selling within a tech company, you’re a woman in technology!”
Cindy Truyens who is MD of software quality testing firm SQS adds that the IT industry “is actually more open for women to succeed in than some other sectors due to its element of creativity and multi-party collaboration. I do see more women working on the project and programme management side of the industry though, which may be down to our natural bossiness and organisational skills.
“As women, many of us will get to a point where we need to make a decision on starting a family, and this will be a consideration for organisations in career and succession planning. However, the determination these successful women have to be exceptional mothers, and return to a full power career, demonstrates their tenacity, ambition and focus, which makes them serious contenders for top roles.”
So the gender imbalance problem in the industry must be tackled at a grassroots level by building and encouraging a business culture in which equality is the norm. The most natural thing for now is to simply stick to it.
“I have a young daughter, and I believe that the technology industry will have changed by the time she’s starting out in her first job,” says Patricia Finlayson, Senior Solution Product Marketing Manager at Polycom. “If it doesn’t, I think my strongest advice for her would simply be to keep at it. In fact, I’d say that to any woman starting out in technology – don’t give up. If at any point you feel like you’re being treated unfairly, use all the available processes to air your grievances. If they’re not addressed, move to another company where you’re treated as you deserve to be.”
Technology’s adoption has become increasingly widespread amongst young people, educational institutions are changing their approach.
“Industry perceptions are changing and we are all now reliant on technology to navigate our daily lives; as such, the skills needed to allow technology to function effectively are more sought after than ever before,” concludes Julie Windsor, Managing Director of Talentia Software UK. “Against this backdrop, there has never been a better time for women to consider entering the industry.”