Three years ago, I started working for an international recruitment organization that specialises in the recruitment of IT developers, Infrastructure specialists, and data analysts. In the three years that I worked as an IT recruiter, the ratio of woman to men that I recruited and placed at an organization is approximately 1 to 6. How come there is such a big difference between the number of women and men I recruit? Are there just so few women specialized in IT?
Research of Deloitte indicated that the ratio woman to men in developed countries is roughly 22% (Sweden 22% in 2013, United States 24% in 2014 and the United Kingdom 18% in 2015). Gender balance in the IT industry has been recognized since 2005, but parity (50/50) seems like a non-realistic goal over the short term. What are the factors that create this inequality?
- The education pipeline.In fields of study related to IT — especially computer science — there are clear problems with gender diversity in the educational pipeline. Only 18 percent of US university computer science (CS) graduates in 2013 were women. Also, the gender gap in the educational pipeline precedes university (tertiary) education.
- Recruiting and hiring.According to a 2014 study among UK firms, half of all companies hiring IT workers stated that only one-in-twenty job applicants were women.
- Paying and promoting.There is still a difference in salary between female IT specialists and male IT specialists.
- Retaining. Women in IT roles are 45 percent more likely than men to leave in their first year, according to a 2014 US study. Potential issues beyond pay and promotion include a hostile or sexist ‘bro-grammer’ culture, as well as workplace policies not suited to women, such as marathon coding sessions, expectations around not having children, and lack of childcare.
The numbers above appear quite disappointing, but there are some hopeful signs. At the moment, I am studying the master degree Business Information Management at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Nearly 40% of the students in my year is female. At Stanford University, Computer Science is now the top major for women. Besides that, there are a lot of leading women in IT that set a great example for female students (for example: Facebook COO Sherryl Sandberg or YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki).
I believe that eventually there could be a perfect gender balance in the IT industry, however this could take decades. What do you think? Is gender balance an non-realistic goal within the IT industry?
Sources:
BBC News. Women are ‘put off’hi-tech jobs. (n.d.). BBC News. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4225470.stm
Corbett, C., & Hill, C. (2015). Solving the equation: the variables for Women’s succes in Engineering and Computing (1st ed.). Retrieved from http://www.aauw.org/research/solving-the-equation/
Lee, P., & Stewart, D. (n.d.). Women in IT jobs: it is about education, but also about more than just education. Retrieved from Deloitte website: http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/tmt-pred16-tech-women-in-it-jobs.html#
Thank you for your post! I think the gender issue in IT is a very interesting topic and I share your view on the importance of it.
Even though I do not think the perfect balance of 50% men and 50% women will get realized, I do believe the uneven distribution can definitely be improved.
In my opinion, the problem starts with education, and then especially the primary and secondary schools. Research in The Netherlands revealed that 20% of the girls that had the capacity to choose for a technical education did not do so. Why?
Dr. Hanke Korpershoek found out that schools give a lot less positive advice to girls about pursuing a scientific education. For boys a GPA of 6 is enough, while girls need a 7. This is of course ridiculous. In addition, girls are found to have low self-esteem in comparison to boys in school. They often underestimate themselves and are not content with a 7 for Math, for example, while boys feel on top of the world when they receive a 6.
Girls are thus not getting motivated to go into IT or technology!
As a result, the Dutch government started an initiative to stimulate more children/girls to choose for a technological study field. Currently, the shortage of technicians in The Netherlands is estimated at 160 000, a number that will only grow considering the increasing importance of IT. The “Techniekpact” consists of schools, employers, employees, youngsters, key sectors and governmental organizations that work together on 12 goals to ultimately get more students to choose a technical education and continue in that field by starting a career in it. A major part of the initiative is to get girls more excited about studying and working in the technical sector. The result is a 20% growth of applications for technical studies this year with regard to last year. There is also a positive trend of girls getting into the technical field, for example 10% more girls applied to technical higher education studies this year as opposed to last year.
Personally, I think this imitative is a great start. We have to tackle the problem at its roots: education. That way, I believe the trend of more girls pursuing a career in IT will continue to rise.
What do you think about education as the root problem and the Techniekpact as a start of the solution?
Sources:
De Haan, N. (2016). Techniek voor meisjes?. Sg.uu.nl. Retrieved 16 September 2016, from https://www.sg.uu.nl/nieuws/2013/techniek-voor-meisjes
Groeitrend ‘meer vrouwen in technische studies’ zet door. (2016). VHTO. Retrieved 16 September 2016, from http://www.vhto.nl/over-vhto/nieuws/groeitrend-meer-vrouwen-in-technische-studies-zet-door/
Kabinet pakt tekort technici aan. (2016). Rijksoverheid.nl. Retrieved 16 September 2016, from https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2012/04/16/kabinet-pakt-tekort-technici-aan
Over. (2016). Techniekpact. Retrieved 16 September 2016, from http://www.techniekpact.nl/nationaal-techniekpact-2020
I am so glad someone decided to talk about this issue, because I personally am very sensitive to everything related to gender imbalance in the world nowadays, since after all we live in a XXI century! So whenever issues behind the factors that create inequality on the job market, especially the ones you have mentioned in the case of the IT industry, still have such strong influence on the overall situation in either this industry or others that are dominated by men, I cannot stop myself from wondering why? Is it women’s mentality that stops them from pursuing a career in those industries? Are they still stuck in the XXth century thinking patterns? Are they afraid they will not be able to compete with men? Or maybe it is the men who perceive women as not suited for work in men-dominated sectors, so they successfully discourage them from trying? And why do they think men are better suited for work in such industries than women?
These are all important questions to be answered in order to understand the abovementioned situation. Although it seems reasonable to think that some women may still feel less confident and comfortable to work in an office dominated by men due to many reasons, the fact that some people justify this by saying that women are not ‘smart enough’ to become experts in for example software development or data analysis is beyond me. Another issue is that even though there are many average male developers, nobody questions their competences, but when a woman does not excel at everything, she is considered worse and not as qualified for the job as her male counterpart. Constantly having to prove your worth may be discouraging for everybody, not only women. Same goes for the inequality in remuneration for the same job when it comes to gender.
Nonetheless I am very happy to see that recent statistics are working out in our favor and hopefully with time, more women become confident enough to become whoever they want in life, be it a developer, an astronaut or a president!