How can we get more women involved in tech?

Ash Carey
21 replies
The relationship between diversity in executive teams and financial outperformance is strong and strengthening over time. Yet women remain underrepresented in tech in general and tech leadership in particular. How can we get more women at the top in tech across the board?

Replies

Ollie Brooke
I would think that tech is not unlike most other societal roles where women tend to favour particular types of work over others. In my experience, females are more interested in design, aesthetics and communications than in the engineering (obviously, this is a VERY broad and sweeping generalisation) mindset. Consequently, I feel that a push towards no code or low code is a good way to open up some spaces to people/women who want to do the work but are uninterested in the minutia of getting it done. There are 2 males (including me) in my company and 4 females (just btw).
Fares
I think the problem comes from the youngest age:( in the early grades already, there is a lot of prejudice in civil societies. We are made to believe that men are more destined to the exact sciences, and women to the natural sciences and languages, when it is not true. We are always told about great male scientists, but never about women, except for Marie Curie. We have never been told about : Mae C. Jemison, Tiera Guinn, Katherine Freese, Maria Goeppert Mayer, Murray Hopper ...... But also Agnodice, Meryt-Ptah, Theano, Hypatia of Alexandria !!!!! If this were the case, I think there would be more women in scientific classes.
Veronica Nikolaeva
@fares_aktouf I definitely agree with you! We need to stop dividing work into "female" and "male". And it really comes from a childhood - where we have a boy's toys - like car or engineering tool set - and girl's one - like baby doll or makeup kit
Travis Bartlesenson
@fares_aktouf Yeah, you are right. I noticed it since 2019. But after stating my https://paintballfire.com I envolved 3- 4 women in my business activities. And pay them for their work as they are my employee. And I noticed that when you motivate them they can do more hardwork than men.
@fares_aktouf @veronica_nikolaeva For both women and men to have complete job satisfaction, we must continue to encourage women to explore careers in all areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and promote and support programs such as Girls Who Code. This will provide young girls with opportunities to consider lucrative professions that they may not have previously considered and allow us to begin reducing the gender inequity in STEM fields that currently exist.
Fares
@veronica_nikolaeva @qudsia_ali I totally agree with you! @qudsia_ali I discovered the "Girls Who Code" & " Purnima Sinha" thanks to you. I find it great!
Tanya Kapoor
@fares_aktouf I agree with you! We need to stop this gender biasness and encourage more women to take scientific subjects during their initial learning stages.
Daniel Engels
It should be a long-term work. I guess it starts in school, or even earlier. It seems Scandinavian countries achieved impressive success in this domain.
Fares
@daniel_engels You are right the Scandinavian model is a great lead
We need to become more outspoken in encouraging more women to join our ranks rather than rolling our eyes when the matter comes up. Tech conferences, meetings, and online communities can all improve for everyone involved by raising awareness of these concerns and providing a welcoming atmosphere for people of both genders.
Dow O'Sage
Getting more diversity in tech (and, honestly everywhere) is something I have wondered a lot about. I took a course on this at Stanford Graduate School of Business that I wish was a free and required curriculum. The short answer is there are barriers at every level from recruitment through performance evals and everywhere in between that need to be addressed starting with an organization deciding that they need to be addressed, that it a high enough priority to educate ourselves and make changes.
@dow_osage The best thing we can do to solve this issue is to provide role models for women. Females need to know that there are women out there in all aspects of the tech industry who have succeeded and are doing great things, and they should be encouraged to follow in their steps
Joanne Hurley
I have a 2 year old daughter. The socialisation starts at that age. For eg, not work related but when there is a costume day at nursery 9 out of 10 girls are princesses and the boys had a great range from lions, to super heros etc. Mine went as a bug and loved it but she was practically the only non princess. I make a concious effort to introduce lots of things to her world, like tool kits and other 'boys' toys, empowering books but once she starts school half of what she thinks is right for a girl is out of my hands and society will push other naratives on her. In short the more she see's me and other female doing a variety of different roles the more she will see what is possible for her.
Joanne Hurley
@ash_carey That's not what the conversation was about and is a given for all kids
Luis Hernandez Peña
I think it's all a problem of positive reinforcement. Men and women receive compliments for different actions and attitudes according to social patterns (strength vs. beauty, competitiveness vs. caring, etc.) If you want more women to be interested in technology and science, just reinforce them, encourage them, trust them, and make them feel capable whenever you have the opportunity.
Clare
@fares_aktouf you are absolutely right
Ella Brown
There are still too many prejudices in society, and it is necessary and important to talk about this! I am an engineer and would like to see more female colleagues, but society has been telling us since childhood about roles, about what we should do and what we should not! This is unfair and affects children who choose their future profession. First of all, it is time to close the gender pay gap, which undermines the motivation and self-confidence of women technologists. At school, I read some free essays on this site https://supremestudy.com/essay-e..., and it motivated me to fight against sexism. It is necessary to create an environment where women feel accepted and supported, providing equal opportunities for career growth.
Shanon Fleming
Promoting diversity in tech requires proactive efforts such as mentorship programs, inclusive hiring practices, and fostering supportive environments. Recognizing and addressing gender bias, encouraging STEM education for girls, and amplifying female voices are key steps for a more equitable tech landscape.