WOMEN IN TECH

While Technology is the fastest-growing industry in the U.K. — predicted to provide more job opportunities than all other professional sectors — why is it still failing to attract and retain women?

According to Business Insider, one reason may be that the number of young women completing engineering and technology programs has dropped significantly in the past 30 years. The end result being that women are generally under-represented in technology-related jobs, and especially in technical positions and at leadership levels.

There has been a lot of talk about how to get women into tech, onto company boards and into leadership positions, yet despite the focus, according to Silicon Valley Bank's 2017 "Start-up Outlook" report, the number of boards with no female representation actually increased in 2017. Disappointing stats.

More than 70% of the 941 start-ups surveyed did not have a single female board member in 2017, a figure up from 66% the year before.

And it's not just board seats. The number of companies with no women in executive positions also increased in 2017, to more than half of the companies surveyed.

It's a worrying uptick to a trend that has seemingly received a lot of lip service but little action.

But why is this a problem? It is much reported that without women in tech, the industry misses out on much-needed diversity that is proven to bring about a wider range of skills, perspectives and approaches to the work it carries out. As the female skills gap continues to increase this reduces the likelihood of tech succeeding in the future. It’s as basic as this: the absence of women in technology is affecting the products we deliver which in turn has an impact on the way we live and work. This lack of gender diversity is to the detriment of many companies who miss out a range of different perspectives and creative inputs – which in turn can then affect financial performance as they fail to meet the needs of their consumers. Maybe this is the hard statistic we need to promote to get the decision makers and hirers to take note.

I think we can confidently state that women play a far more influential role in the future growth of the tech industry and, as such, businesses need to be making much more of an effort to encourage these individuals to apply for and secure roles within the sector. But how do you do this?

At Rank Group, one strategy is to encourage the appointment of a diverse leadership that by its very presence attracts more female talents in our tech world.

We believe by providing positive role models that women can look up to we will start to inspire the next generations of female leaders and tech talent.

 Encouragement at every stage of a woman's career is key. Positive role models at the top of an organization are integral to retaining female talent in any field, but especially in technology

We work hard to deliver bespoke coaching and development, with a vision to progressing our women towards more senior or managerial roles. This not only helps to increase the number of leading women in the industry, but also aids in the retention of current employees and potentially attracts more women to follow in their footsteps.

Further, we consciously consider the tone of voice, language and imagery we use in all our adverts to ensure we eliminate any perception of bias in our recruitment. A more neutral tone has impacted the number of women applying to work for us.

Take a look at some of our inspiring women who make up Rank's Game Changers – women who are actively working on our business-critical projects delivering products, services and experiences designed to serve our customers in the best way possible. We are proud of their immense contribution to our business and their passion and drive for getting involved in the world of tech.

Kerry Dawes

Siobhan Reynolds

Jennifer Pickard

Remia Mathew

Bhavana Awasthi

Manisha Jobanputra

Mel Hodge

Jo Phippen