Yvonne Dwyer, from Med-Hire, sent me an article about Women in the Tech Industry. She thought I would find it interesting…and I do! The article talks about how the tech field is predominately men. No surprise there. I remember when I first arrived in Georgia to do field service in the 90’s that I was the only women in the field. I fell in love with the industry and it made absolutely no difference to me that it was a “man’s field”.
Fast forward to 2016 and women are playing a huge part in the tech industry. More and more women are entering into high profile executive positions with global firms such as Apple, Google, Facebook, etc. Not only are they holding these positions, they are making a difference…a huge difference!
Another thing the article had was some statistics. If you have read any of my other blogs, you will know that I love stats!
How many women are working in tech?
- 20% of all tech start-ups across the world were founded by women.
- Chicago, Boston and Silicon Valley have the most tech start-ups founded by women.
- The number of women working for Facebook grew by 84% in 2015, compared to a 16% increase of men and 83% more women joined Microsoft in 2015, compared to 17% of men.
- The Role of Women in the Tech Industry Today
Women in venture capital
- Only 4.2% of venture capital investors in the US are women.
- 5 of 100 investors in the Forbes Midas list of the top venture capitalists are women.
Why do women leave tech?
- 30% blame working conditions, such as long hours, a low salary and no opportunity for career progression.
- 27% put it down to work-life-balance, stating they do not have enough time with their family and there is too much travel involved.
- Some of the other top reasons were a loss of interest in their job and problems with the company environment.
- 24% of women who leave a tech role go on to a non-technical role in a different company and 22% become self-employed in a tech field.
How to retain women in tech
- Offer mentoring programs and networking opportunities, can help staff to seek encouragement and assistance from others in the industry.
- Flexible working hours will ensure staff feel like they meet a good work-life-balance and have time for commitments outside of their jobs.
- Providing opportunities for personal development is a large factor that people look for in a job and scope for promotion will improve retention rates.
Having women in the tech industry is more and more refreshing. I love it!
