I had the absolute pleasure to help co-write Kasperky’s 2021 Women in Tech Report titled ‘Where are we now? Understanding the evolution of women in technology.’ Kaspersky’s 2018 report revealed women were well aware of the benefits a technology role could bring, but a lack of other women working in the sector made them wary of pursuing their own IT Careers – and thankfully since then we are seeing change finally happen, albeit slowly. 56% of female respondents agree that gender equality has improved in their organization over the past two years. But is that enough? I don’t think so.
One of the main reasons we are not realizing a faster pace of change in this area is because too much of the activity surrounding gender equality in IT focuses on one-off gimmicks and bandaid solutions that can be spotlighted in the press, instead of focusing attention on female employees and the actions that will truly make a sustained difference in their professional lives.
We know role models play a significant part in triggering a snowball effect from education up to employment, too. 38% of respondents claim a lack of women in the tech industry makes them wary of entering the sector. The most common pathway for women to learn of a role in IT or technology is not through seeing a role model and being inspired, it’s not even through word of mouth, it’s through their own research (44%). Nonetheless, all of these factors combined make for a pretty sizable barrier for the lack of female representation in a sector where it is sorely needed.
There’s a lot of work still to be done, clearly. If you want to grasp the full landscape for women in tech, read the report here.
