Women’s Equality Day: How Is the Tech Industry Progressing?
Eight female tech leaders share their thoughts on attracting more women to the industry.
Library of Congress
“This Women’s Equality Day, we are focused on the knowledge that fostering a culture of inclusion and respect for all employees must be an everyday part of our business practices if we want to achieve success. For the tech industry in particular, making strides in building diversity, improving equity, and achieving real inclusion has to be a key focus at a time when the workforce is still experiencing underrepresentation of women and minorities, and missing out on the contributions from those communities.
“When it comes to any DEI effort, it’s often hard to know where to start and what will really create change. At Egnyte, we are working to actively listen to our employees and involve them throughout our efforts. We want to enable a community of changemakers within the organization who will help drive further action and support.”
“Organizations are under pressure to adopt impactful diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and rightfully so. It’s good that many organizations have managed to shift priorities to accommodate these needs, however, there continues to be persistent gaps overall and where it’s important. According to research by McKinsey & Company, organizations have achieved improved women’s representation across the board, however, there is still a significant gender imbalance as promotions to leadership roles are not equitable, and women of color continue to lack representation at every level.
“The continued state of disparities highlights a ‘broken rung’ within the corporate ladder. If companies continue to fail in seizing the opportunity to recognize and properly support women in their organization, they risk an unconscious gender bias within their company culture leaving women with an unclear path forward.
“As women in tech, it’s important to make our voices heard and our contributions seen by continuing to develop leadership and technical skills, acquire industry knowledge, and mentor other females on a path towards leadership positions. In order to drive change, we must push equitable practices that not only promote acceptance within the workplace, but also foster an all-inclusive work culture that embraces diversity at its fullest potential.
“Campaigns like Women’s Equality Day remind us to commemorate the women who broke barriers to make a better future for the field. This day highlights the negative impact of workplace imbalances and amplifies efforts to encourage more women to fight their way up the corporate ladder. As our world continues to undergo a digital transformation, we need to keep leading the charge towards a more inclusive, diverse and fair working environment. Not just for us, but for future generations of female leaders.”
“In recent years, the tech industry has made substantial progress toward creating more inclusive, equitable and diverse environments. Representation of women has improved, but work remains to address persistent gaps within the talent pipeline: promotion rates are not equitable and women continue to lose representation at all levels of the career ladder.
“Organizations need to remain vigilant and intentional to create healthy, diverse, thriving cultures; this entails actively investing in the growth and psychological safety of all employees. Embracing learning, normalizing mistake-making and listening go a long way toward cultivating environments conducive to empathy and the celebration of diversity.
“The journey of inclusivity isn’t linear, isn’t defined by reaching an endpoint, and takes continual, iterative tending. When diversity, equity and inclusive practices are implemented effectively, organizations become vehicles for embracing vulnerability, empowerment, and the celebration of authenticity.
“At Exabeam, we are consciously leaning into and listening to the voices of trans and cis women as well as our non-binary community. We value diverse perspectives and know this translates into business results, but more, it translates into a more fun, authentic and human work experience. Campaigns like Women’s Equality Day highlight the importance of amplifying our efforts in creating a safe and inclusive environment where everyone knows they belong.”
“Women’s Equality Day is the perfect opportunity for all organizations to reflect on their initiatives to support women and to ensure that they’re doing everything they can. It’s important to be objective and assess whether the organization’s initiatives are creating real change, not just paying lip service to the idea. Eradicating bias at recruitment level is just the beginning.
“In the tech sector, women remain a minority — making up just 30% in 2021. For leadership, the figures are even more shocking with less than a fifth (19.2%) of Fortune 500 CIOs being women. If those numbers are to change, real action must follow the sentiments so frequently expressed.
“At Progress, we have a number of initiatives designed to encourage and empower women. We have a company-wide Employee Resource Group (ERG) ‘Progress for Her,’ which provides women the tools they need to build their networks and professionally develop. We also offer women self-paced learning modules and peer coaching, which can be done at their own pace and thus do not risk excluding part-time working mothers or those who have career gaps due to maternity leave. We also launched a Women in STEM scholarship series in 2019 and introduced the Akanksha Scholarship for Women in STEM in India. Our aim is to continue to encourage women to choose STEM and to support their professional development once they are there.”
“Women’s Equality Day is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how far women’s equality has come over the past 100 years. There are more women working in the technology sector than ever before, making some incredible contributions.
“With that being said, now is not the time to rest on our laurels. There is still a significant gender bias in the industry with women often expected to meet higher standards, yet still being paid less than their male counterparts.
“Organizations should consider what they can do to propel further change, exploring initiatives such as offering additional support for women who are balancing caring responsibilities alongside their work. Or offering flexible working. Perhaps they could deliver a female-centered mentor program to support women’s career progression. Ensuring the recruitment process is assessed for bias is another important consideration.
“It’s only by assessing policies and practices that organizations can instigate actionable and lasting change to close the tech gender gap. We all have a collective responsibility to ensure that women’s equality remains a top priority this Women’s Equality Day and beyond.”
“Women’s Equality Day is a holiday that evokes optimism when you reflect on the great strides that have been made, while also reminding us that there are opportunities remaining for further improvement.
“I am indeed fortunate to work for a company that greatly values diversity in the workplace. Likewise, from an early age I was encouraged to strive to be the best I could be, and to freely pursue my interests in STEM.
“Are you wondering what you can do to help fan the fires of a girl or woman with an interest in STEM? My advice would be that to start, all you really need is to show a positive attitude! Next, encourage curiosity and focus on the fun of learning something new. You can also highlight successful women in STEM that came before and are still blazing trails. However, most importantly, whether it is STEM or they decide they want to pursue another career path — it’s all good! And remind them, as Dr. Seuss astutely stated, ‘If you get the chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.’”
“Upon reflection of my role as a female founder of a tech company, I realize that I am one drop in the bucket in the widespread market of technology founders. Yet when I show up to events, it never ceases to astonish me how rare it is to find other women in this space with me. I have been to conferences where I’ve skimmed through the speaker list and found myself to be the only female in the lineup. When I went to present to the audience of 50, there were two women in the room with me. This is statistically supported, with women making up 28% of the STEM workforce and research which shows that girls tend to lose interest in sciences and technology subjects when they are as young as 12.
“One of the most important things I will ever do as a woman is be a role model. That is, to stand where I am, as a proud woman in technology, and to believe in the next generation of girls choosing their careers, and the women already in the workforce with interest in joining the field. I am where I am because people down the line believed in me and knew that I could do the things I set out to do — from getting my advanced mathematics training to creating my encryption technology to filing for patents to founding the company with those products. I stand where I am now, with the message to girls and women everywhere that it doesn’t matter what is expected of you or what society tells us we should accomplish based on our gender. I want girls and women everywhere to know that they are good enough, and they can do it. More so, I would love it if you did. I would love to see you here, in this space, with me. We need you.”
“In late 2021, Deloitte Global predicted that in 2022 we would see ‘large global technology firms, on average, reach nearly 33% overall female representation in their workforces – an increase of just over 2% since 2019. While any increase is a good thing, we’re barely scratching the surface of reaching true gender equality in the technology industry.
“One of the main barriers to women’s equality in tech is attracting talent in the first place. The key to this is early education, exposure and flexibility. There is often still a discriminatory nature of hiring within tech – many job postings are written as though men are their only target, which is unsurprisingly putting many women off who may be interested. Ensuring that job adverts are completely gender-neutral and welcoming to all is just the first step. Once organizations have more female employees, it’s important to showcase that fact to encourage more women to apply to the company — having clear role models will allow women to picture themselves in the same position or organization.
“It’s important that we practice what we preach! At Glasswall, we’ve established the Women in Tech committee, made up of multiple women from across the company who meet together once every month to discuss how women can excel in their roles, support the company in reaching its business goals, and ensure that all employees at Glasswall experience fair and equal opportunities.”
“In late 2021, Deloitte Global predicted that in 2022 we would see ‘large global technology firms, on average, reach nearly 33% overall female representation in their workforces – an increase of just over 2% since 2019. While any increase is a good thing, we’re barely scratching the surface of reaching true gender equality in the technology industry.
“One of the main barriers to women’s equality in tech is attracting talent in the first place. The key to this is early education, exposure and flexibility. There is often still a discriminatory nature of hiring within tech – many job postings are written as though men are their only target, which is unsurprisingly putting many women off who may be interested. Ensuring that job adverts are completely gender-neutral and welcoming to all is just the first step. Once organizations have more female employees, it’s important to showcase that fact to encourage more women to apply to the company — having clear role models will allow women to picture themselves in the same position or organization.
“It’s important that we practice what we preach! At Glasswall, we’ve established the Women in Tech committee, made up of multiple women from across the company who meet together once every month to discuss how women can excel in their roles, support the company in reaching its business goals, and ensure that all employees at Glasswall experience fair and equal opportunities.”
Today, August 26, is Women’s Equality Day. The day commemorates women gaining the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Congress designated the day in 1973 at the urging of the late Bella Abzug.
The 19th Amendment gave women the vote, but more than 100 years later, they still have not attained true equality.
In the tech industry, for example, only 26.7% of the workforce is female. In honor of the day, eight female leaders in the tech industry have offered their observations on how more women can be encouraged to join the tech workforce.
Scroll through the gallery above to find out their thoughts on what must continue to change.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Buffy Naylor or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like