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Why does the UK tech sector still have a gender problem?

The issue of equal pay and gender disparity across a variety of sectors and industries has come under close scrutiny in recent weeks.

An Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) report released just last week found that on average men are paid 18% more than women, with the gap widening markedly following childbirth.

Meanwhile Theresa May has made the issue of equal pay across gender, ethnic and racial boundaries a key tenet of her premiership after she vowed to foster a ‘Britain that works for everyone’ in one of her maiden speeches as Prime Minister.

The problem of equal pay and fair representation is clearly back in the limelight after efforts to bridge the gap, the Equal Pay Act chief among them, have still not done enough to ensure true parity between men and women.

While some may argue that the numbers are broad and do not reflect the nuances of the job market, such as the fact that more women take on part-time work than men, there is still the overriding issue that in industries such as finance, tech and many more, there is an acute lack of female figures in high-profile positions.

Tech in particular has a gender problem that decades of government initiatives and work from organisations such as Women in Tech seems incapable of remedying.

In fact, such is the lack of progress on getting more women into the UK’s burgeoning tech sector that the number of digital roles held by women in the UK is predicted to just barely touch 25%, the same figure as last year.

Why is this? What’s causing it? And what needs to be done?

These are some vast and far-reaching questions that are difficult to answer and, evidently, even more difficult to solve.

Education is one piece of the puzzle, with women only representing 17% of those who study computer science at university in the UK, despite 56% of those who participate in higher education being women.

Another is the dearth of female role models in the industry which, despite visible figures such as Eileen Burbidge, do not properly represent the background and experiences of the UK’s female digital entrepreneurs - a problem that is only underlined by the fact that only 9% of senior roles in the digital and technology sector are held by women.

Of course there are some who dispute the figures or make the case that drawing attention to the disparity merely entrenches the divide and destroys any chance of true equality by drawing attention to differences rather than similarities.

But what does it say about our society that the digital economy, which is routinely held up as the future of the UK’s economy and a driver of prosperity, is split 75/25 in favour of men?

With these issues in mind, today Bdaily London is launching a new series which will shine a light on some of the capital’s leading female tech figures, telling their stories and canvassing their ideas about the issue of representation in our digital industries and what (if anything) needs to be done for greater parity in the sector.

If you’d like to be featured in our series or would like to contribute, get in touch at billy.wood@bdaily.co.uk

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