Women in Technology: International Women's Day

An issue which has spanned the length of decades is the severe lack of women in technology. On a day such as International Women’s Day, there’s no better time to reignite the argument; why should we encourage more women to enter tech careers?

With only 3% of women planning a career in technology in the future, it’s no wonder that there are such concerns surrounding achieving a gender diverse workforce.

In fact, tech is the only discipline which has seen a decline in gender diversity over the past 20 years. Currently, women only account for 17% of the total specialist IT population. These statistics must change if we are to hope for a prospering technological future.

Women in Technology: Why encourage it?

Encouraging women into the tech sector and facilitating their career progression is not only morally right, but it also just makes good business sense; it can benefit the industry immensely.

Revenue

First of all, inspiring women to enter technology has the potential to positively impact revenue and a company’s total profitability – surely this is something which every business, big or small, aspires to do. Statistics show that it’s a given that a diverse workplace offers better returns and are much more likely to outperform businesses lacking in diversity.

Bridging the Skills Gap

An issue which particularly concerns us here at Thatcher MCS is the current skills gap which is continuing to plague the tech industry. This skills gap must be bridged. As the world of tech continues to evolve and expand, the workforce must follow suit in order to meet the sector’s needs. Of course, leaving near enough half the world’s population out of tech is significantly hindering the skills shortage and the likelihood that this matter will be resolved. Women in technology are a crucial feature to secure the future of a thriving tech workforce.

Why Not?

Why shouldn’t women be encouraged into a career in technology and why shouldn’t their career progression be facilitated? Women are critical components in where technology needs to go and most of all, women want tech career progression.

Role Models

How can we break down the barriers of a male centric tech industry?

It’s all about visibility – women need to be inspired. We need a new generation motivated by the likes of Ada Lovelace. Fortunately, there have been many steps forward in this respect throughout recent years with a number of groups paving the way and looking to unify and inspire women in technology. Ground-breaking groups such as Girls Who Code, Women 2.0 and Geek Girl Meetup are doing amazing things for the industry, bringing women together through building community, as well as inspiring and teaching the next generation of tech talent.

Read the rest of my article in full here: ow.ly/tpY1309HlRM, where I talk about the benefit of International Women's Day for women in the world of work.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/careers/28263/just-3-of-women-plan-to-embark-on-careers-in-tech

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289293