Member Article

Solving the issue of too few women in IT

The number of women in key roles in the UK technology industry has stayed largely the same at 14% for the last decade, according to a survey by IT industry experts Gartner, who also report that developing nations and the US far outperform EU countries. An EU report published in October 2013 showed that just 29 of every 1000 women with a degree graduate in ICT, compared with 95 in every 1000 for men. Of those 29, only four went on to work in the ICT sector. It makes little sense when the same research shows that tech companies with more women on their management teams have a 34% bigger return on investment. High profile women such as Martha Lane Fox, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Susan Wojcicki at Google are gradually changing perceptions, but senior female role models are few and far between. Working in the tech sector does not have to mean being a techie. My own route to becoming a director of the North East’s biggest independent IT company came via senior general management and finance roles. As Director of Corporate Strategy and Policy I support the leadership of the business in strategic decision making, policy development, effective performance and risk management. Just because ITPS is a data centre business focussed on delivering ICT solutions and support, it does not mean that I need technical skills to be effective. When Karren Brady revived the fortunes of Birmingham City Football Club it wasn’t because she was a champion at ‘keepy uppy’. So what can we do to encourage more women into the sector? Girls report lower self-confidence in STEM subjects, despite achieving better GCSE and A level results than boys. More female ambassadors would help to show others that ICT can offer an interesting and rewarding career, and I believe that senior women have a part to play in encouraging young talent. I’m looking forward to joining the Business Advisory Board of Newcastle’s new Discovery School, which will be an industry-driven centre of excellence in STEM subjects for 14-19 year olds. Encouraging more girls into the pipeline as they start to make career choices should see more of them filter through into the tech industry and start to right the gender imbalance. Interestingly, one of the statistics to come out of a report from the UK Sector Skills Council for Business and IT is that the proportion of women working as self-employed IT specialists has more than doubled over the past decade. I have a theory that this could be down to what is seen as a ‘boys own’ corporate culture across male-dominated ICT companies, and would fit with findings that show women are more likely to want to work for organisations that demonstrate good corporate values. Corporate social responsibility is not just a ‘nice to have’. Here at ITPS we have found that how a business conducts itself and aligns its values and behaviour with the expectations and needs of stakeholders has a very real effect on the bottom line. While there are many groups and organisations doing great work in helping to recruit and retain more women in ICT, we should not corral ourselves into gender-specific networking and progression groups. We can’t complain we are not integrated into the mainstream ICT culture if we also persist in remaining separate. The jury is still out on whether women are not applying for jobs in the ICT sector, or whether they are not given the same opportunities. US companies are trialling a system where a code replaces personal information such as name and sex, and it will be interesting to see what effect this has. The steps we take now towards diversity, equality and inclusion will help to change the position for the next generation. Seeing 50 percent of the population included at the top levels of business would create a better world of work for all of us.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by ITPS Ltd .