Women in IT Industry

Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo, Microsoft and Apple - all are billion-dollar success stories. Thanks to their revolutionary technologies and must-have products. But these tech giants have one more thing in common - a shortfall of female employees.

The big names of Silicon Valley have begun releasing diversity figures that reveal men outnumber women two to one. If we consider purely technical roles in these companies women population is only 10 to 20 per cent of the workforce, whereas it is 57 per cent for all other professional roles in the US.

• Why there aren’t more women in technology?
• There aren’t enough women in the US choosing tech careers. According to a research, only one third female teens responded that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) would be their first career choice.
• Women's decisions to have children make them less desirable to tech companies filling demanding roles. 
• Women do not consider IT as their choice of career because of hostile male culture.
• Lack of clear career path 

Organizations’ initiatives to attract women

Attracting and retaining women in IT is something several companies and organizations are working toward.  Google offers several scholarships for women in computing and technology. “Google Prize” is a financial award specifically for outstanding female computer science students. The prize is intended to encourage women to enter and remain in the field of computer science.

By inspiring the younger generation of females at high-school age, Microsoft have been showing the lighter side of IT and how women can make a difference to a very male-dominated workplace.

Many IT companies are hiring remote employees and offering flexible schedule to help them maintain work-life balance. This especially proves to be appealing to women who are often juggling career, children and home responsibilities.

Why do companies want gender diversity?

Diversity makes the team stronger. By bringing together different points of view, different personalities and life experiences, organizations build better teams. Studies show that teams with more women perform better. Woman-friendly workplaces are nice places for everyone to work. A diverse collection of skills and experiences (e.g. languages, cultural understanding) allows a company to provide service to customers on a global basis.

With the increased public awareness of the lack of gender diversity in technology field, companies will experience more pressure to disclose their statistics and be accountable for reaching diversity objectives. It is time for organizations to address their cultural bias and create initiatives to attract and retain women.

As more and more tech businesses are taking initiative to hire female employees, obviously, women have a better chance to get hired by a reputed IT company. Register on TheGongzuo.com and post your resume today!