TALKING

There are reasons to be encouraged about the future of women in the industry . A study by McKinsey in 2020 found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 % more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile . team compared to most organisations , helping them to boost female representation . Unfortunately , this leaves many smaller companies behind , particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic .

Clare Hickie , Chief Technical Officer for EMEA at Workday

Anecdotally , many female leaders talk about having had to work twice as hard as their male counterparts just to get on a level playing field . I know from personal experience not only how dedicated women are , but how committed we are to achieving success .

Progress slowed by the pandemic

On the surface , it looks like gender imbalance in the workplace is levelling out in tech and that women are being represented fairly . But , when you delve deeper into the statistics , there ’ s still considerable work to be done . According to Deloitte , women comprise just 25 % of the workforce in large tech companies , equating to one in four employees .

According to Deloitte , in 2022 the tech industry will close the gender pay gap by 2 % on 2019 ’ s figure , reaching 33 % of female representation in the workforce by 2023 . Even though this figure may seem low , it represents a significant stride forward when you take into consideration that the pandemic seriously damaged female employment rates .

The Office of National Statistics ( ONS ) in the UK cites that 232,000 fewer women were employed in October – December 2020 compared with January – March 2020 , representing a fall of 1.5 %. The pandemic affected the workplace on an unprecedented scale and , for one reason or another , women felt the full force of it . That said , the tech industry was better equipped than most when it came to being able to work from home . As a result , many large organisations managed to keep female representation on a forward trajectory .

The facts show that there still isn ’ t gender parity . The large corporations are making headway , but it begs the question – what more can they do ?

Solving the issue

The most obvious way to make progress is to first and foremost ensure that the industry is more attractive and appealing for women . This means going beyond leaving out gender in application forms and implementing blind CVs – both effective ways of limiting bias – and altering the language companies use in job descriptions to attract female talent .

A survey conducted prior to the pandemic from Women in Tech showed that nearly 50 % of women said benefits such as working from home , flexibility , opportunities to grow , training and salary would make a job description

Diversity progress in tech

Diversity progress in tech is evidenced by many of the big tech players , including Apple Meta and Tesla , taking steps to balance diversity by publishing their annual progress against DE & I goals .

However , we know that the major tech companies have more funding , resources and an extensive recruitment

According to Deloitte , women comprise just 25 % of the workforce in large tech companies , equating to one in four employees .

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