As with many industries, the tech industry has long been male-dominated. However, there are not too many industries where the percentage of women in positions was higher in the 1980s than it is today, yet this is the case within the tech industry. Although the number of women working in tech is improving, it remains that women are underrepresented in an industry that is growing at a faster pace than most other industries.

In the Website Planet blog, The Empowering Guide for Women in Tech in 2022, only one in five employees in the tech industry is a woman, despite them making up more than half of the US workforce.

“This is a statistic that hurts the economy, companies, women and their families, and every person who uses technology – so pretty much everyone in the universe. But there are many people who are directly able to make a significant impact on this reality,” explains content writer for the blog, Jennifer Gregory.

Working in a male-dominated industry negatively impacts the women working in that industry with many feeling undervalued or missing out on opportunities to grow in their careers.

According to Gregory, the impact is that 33% of women in tech consider switching careers resulting in women leaving the industry at a 45% higher rate than their male counterparts. 

The gender disparity in tech is an issue for more reasons than its inequality. Below are some of the biggest reasons why we all should care about having a gender gap.

• Diversity allows for greater innovation - Forbes, McKinsey and Harvard Business School maintain that workforce diversity is a key driver of internal innovation and business growth in a fast-changing environment. Inc.com lists the five key benefits of workplace diversity as increased creativity, innovation, better consumer understanding, richer brain-storming and better decision making. 

• Diversity also generates more revenue - Forbes research shows that high-gender-diverse companies deliver better returns and have outperformed less diverse companies over the past five years. Fortune 500 companies with at least three women in leading positions saw a 66% increase in ROI and have a purchasing power of an estimated $5 trillion. A McKinsey study found that companies were 21% more likely to have above-average profits if they were in the top quartile in terms of gender diversity among their executives.

• Women think differently - Men and women see things differently and bring unique ideas to the table. This enables better problem solving which can boost performance at the business unit level. The presence of women makes individuals anticipate differences in opinion and perspective and makes them assume that they will need to work harder to come to a consensus. Businesses typically benefit from this kind of pressure.

• We all need female role models - Celebrating female tech leaders will encourage more girls to pursue an interest and career in tech - thus increasing the tech talent pool’s diversity. Bringing women into senior roles demonstrates that others can succeed too. Women having a seat at the table will also enable them to engage men on the topic of gender equality. Gregory explains that the lack of women in tech becomes a self-limiting proposition and the fact that there are fewer women in tech makes women shy away from the industry, not wanting to be “the only one.” It also means that an unconscious bias may cause a man to hire men, which makes the gap even bigger.

So what changes are needed?

Getting more women into STEM careers requires creating clearer pathways for women to enter the industry followed by more positive reasons to stay. 

The Website Planet blog outlines several actions that need to be made now to encourage women to enter and stay in careers in tech, they include:

• Encouraging more women to study in STEM - resulting in more women graduating with Graduate Computer Science Degrees and Certifications resulting in a larger talent field. This has become a global priority in many countries including Vietnam and the Philippines beginning with encouraging girls to continue their higher school studies in science and maths, and from there taking on tertiary education in STEM courses.

• Reviewing recruiting and hiring processes – this requires a greater understanding and appreciation of the work benefits women are looking for compared to their male counterparts as well as ensuring the recruitment process is gender considerate. For example, asking questions related to marital status, kids and family life that would not be asked of a male being interviewed is simply a ‘no go’.

• Equal opportunities for promotion - an Indeed study found that only about half (53%) of women in tech felt they had the same advancement opportunities as men. That means that many felt discriminated against due to their gender when it came to promotions. Not surprisingly, the study also found that 28% of women quit their tech jobs because of the perceived lack of career growth.

• Changing the work culture - from top-down attitudes and perceptions towards women must be fair and equitable in all aspects of the work environment. A gender-neutral position must exist in all areas of business operations. This means, not expecting the only woman in the room to take the minutes of a meeting or having pizza and beer as the only option for Friday happy hour every time.

The major globally recognised tech companies such as Amazon and Google should step up and lead the way in addressing the number of women in tech positions within their companies. In her blog, Gregory outlines that currently, women make up only 23% of the tech jobs at Apple and 32% of the company’s overall workforce. Google has similar stats, with 21% of its tech jobs held by women and 31% of its total workforce while in Microsoft women hold 20% of the tech positions and 27% of the total workforce.

In its 10 years of operation, Sharesource has taken a proactive gender-neutral approach to ensure diversity. This includes how we advertise for all positions, our interview and recruitment techniques, and the benefits and ongoing support we provide. By doing this, we can confidently say that we employ the best person for the position, no matter their gender. In addition, our culture and values are built around fairness and equity, something we are very proud of.  As it currently stands, Sharesource's workforce is made up of 51% female and 49% male with tech-specific positions with a 36% to 64% female/male ratio, which is well above what we are seeing in the major global companies as outlined earlier.

But don’t take our word for the benefits of a gender-diverse workforce. Read some of the blogs from our team members who feel enriched and supported working at Sharesource:

• Sharesource provides gender diversity
• Why Gender Diversity Matters in the Workplace

For all of us at Sharesource women in tech matter so that future generations of women will not only join but surpass the work being done. If you’re interested in working with remote and gender-diverse teams who will help boost your bottom line, reach out to us here.

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