Where Are All The Women In Tech?
Looking through the lens of statistics
The story of women in tech has more sides than you know.
Many a time, perceptions are like cancer, caused by your own kin, the people you know, the people around you. As time passes by, countless perceptions based on countless stories together evolve into a stereotype. They are driven by their origin, not logic, and become the very definition of what a particular community stands for.
Unfortunately, our world is plagued by a brutal stereotype, that certain things are meant for men, and others for women. For most of those ‘things’, there is seldom a logical basis. Technology is a part of it.
Humankind is very diverse to generalize a viewpoint, and before judging something, it is essential to know, not just a single story, but every one of them, from the past, and present. A stereotype is like the atmosphere. You can’t really fight it, but replace it with something else, and when you realize that, you’ll understand what exactly needs to be done.
Before we get there, let me take you on a journey of views about women in tech from across nations and time.
When the world was at war
Countless men were deployed into the battlefields. It was the year 1942. Computers back then were actually humans. Hundreds of women were hired to compute equations, the results of which were used in the battle.
Yes, the world’s first literal computers were women. In fact, people perceived it to be more suitable for women. When the war ended in 1945, research and development continued and soon, the first-ever general-purpose computer was built. It was called the ENAIC, and guess what? The first programmers of this very first computer were women too.
Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Meltzer, Fran Bilas, and Ruth Lichterman are the people you may have never heard of, even if you had lived in that era. Most of them didn’t get the recognition they deserved.
When it comes to women in science and tech, this is not uncommon. Women weren’t alien to technology. There was no bias that a job with a computer was a men’s only thing. History shows us a different problem. Why are women not recognized equivalently as to their male counterparts? Several factors can contribute to this. This deeply rooted obstacle is referred to as the ‘Matilda Effect’.
The gender disparity we see today might be a consequence of decades of such ignorance.
The Present
Let us talk about now. I am sure, at some point, you would have at heard of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and countless others of similar stature. But do you know about Judith Faulkner, Meg Whitman, or Zhou Qunfei? Barring Whitman, even I didn’t know anything about them until I started researching to write this article. And I identify myself as someone who closely follows the trends of the tech industry.
Why do you not know them?
Judith is the CEO and Founder of Epic Systems, a healthcare-based software company, and a self-made billionaire with a staggering net worth of about $ 3.8 Billion. Zhou Qunfei is a Chinese entrepreneur and the founder of Lens Technologies. Her net worth stands at $ 9.3 billion. Meg, on the other hand, is a more popular face, having served as the CEO of three tech companies, and board of directors for several others.
These are just a few of the several examples out there. Finally, coming to the title of this article, let me first present you with the stats.
Most companies barely even have 25% of their tech workforce to be women. Are women not really interested in tech? or is it something else?
In a survey conducted by PwC in Uk, a remarkable 78% of students couldn’t name a prominent woman in tech. Can you name ten such people? I bet most of us can’t. Most men can’t for sure.
The PwC report highlights a couple of interesting insights-
Girls are less likely to study STEM subjects at school — and this gap continues through to university
Despite such exciting opportunities, girls aren’t considering technology as a career — partly because nobody is putting it forward as a possible option. While 33% of male respondents say they’ve had a career in technology suggested to them, the figure for females is only 16% — a glaring lack of advice that’s helping to reinforce the stereotype of a male-dominated industry.
According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, in the U.S, 74% of young girls express interest in STEM fields and computer science, yet women hold only 25% of computing jobs.
The stats of the startup world are worse
The Woman in Technology Leadership report reveals half of the startups have no women on their leadership teams!
A female entrepreneur has it tough, from raising capital to finding the right mentors and investors. It doesn’t mean employees have it better.
In fact, estimates show that 50% of women engineers quit tech after working for a while.
Some may entirely quit working, while others move to fields like marketing, HR or consulting.
Clearly, there are barriers. I can think of a few, which I’ll leave as my speculation at the moment-
- Do women quit to take care of their families, raise kids, etc? Do the conditions in the industry put pressure on working mothers, who see quitting as a fair option?
- Is tech more competitive and challenging in general? Or do women perceive it that way more than men, because of how society influences their thoughts? Tech is indeed stressful (comparatively). It is stressful for men too, but if a woman feels it to be far worse, it probably is a consequence of external factors unique to her life, which men may rarely face, rather than tech itself.
- Is there a conscious or unconscious bias at a workplace that makes the career progression for women in tech difficult. Is the Matilda effect prevalent in the modern corporate world?
Now, given the situation, where are we heading towards? Before we go further, a few more questions to ask.
- Do you agree that today, there is a lot more awareness about women empowerment?
- Do you agree that there are a lot more support programs and scholarships exclusive to women than, say 30 years ago?
- Do you agree that the industry is adapting to the changing trends, creating new reforms, rules, and drives to encourage more women to pursue tech?
If your answer is yes to all the above, do you think we are doing good in beating the stereotype? All these efforts must have steadily increased women’s presence over the years, right?
Reality shows something else. In the year 1984, 37% of all computer science degrees were awarded to Women. That number is only about 15% in 2013. Where did things go wrong? Or were things really wrong?
Just by making women aware of the opportunities, encouraging them to pursue tech, and giving them a headstart doesn’t seem to solve the problem. When you think about it, the problem was never with the woman, but with the people around her. They are the ones who should be changed.
What do people actually think?
Woman or not, everyone on an average must be interested in STEM fields, fascinated by how technology is changing the world and be excited to be a part of it.
With a great vision, you may create organizations to advocate opportunities and potential for WIT. You fight the stereotype that tech is not just a Man’s thing. You succeed in inspiring hundreds of women to follow your footsteps, and you enter a foreign land to take your grand vision beyond the borders.
I wonder, what if the women of this foreign land didn’t want to pursue tech in their own will, fully aware of the opportunity? Are women biased in themselves, or is there passive suppression, or is this the choice of freedom in a different community?
Consider the country, Japan, known for its innovation in AI and Robotics. Interestingly, only 13% of the people who code are women. That is one of the least in the world. Surprised? I wondered why it is so, and then found something. In fact, Japan has the highest percentage of working women in a developed nation, but most of their work in misc part-time jobs or in other fields. Why not in tech?
I feel, and again I can only reflect, for I have never really interacted with the Japanese to actually understand their culture, perspectives, etc.
Maybe, women at this part of the world, simply didn’t want to work in tech? But that’s not the entire story. Given Japanese workaholic culture, traditions, and tax laws, being a housewife would appear to be a better choice. In spite of having a modern and educated society, Japan is not void of gender-based discrimination.
It is apparent that most people work to make money, to make ends meet and not inherently with a vision to change the world or to create that big innovation. With that perspective, any job would do, many a time, an easier job outside of tech. Also, the deep-rooted culture of Japan encourages women to maintain the household. It’s not like someone is forcing them, but perhaps, that’s something women inherently would want to pursue based on the society they grew up in?
Reading about the state of Japan, I wondered where the Women in tech percentages are very high. That led me to Eastern Europe. You might as well call it the silicon valley for women.
Women form up to 30% of tech workers in Bulgaria, one of the highest in the world. And talking about Romania, there are tech companies where women are an outright majority. Such a thing may be unheard of in the rest of the tech world.
So, Eastern Europe is doing something right to have these numbers? or so you may think. I wanted to know too, and the answer I found puts me in a dilemma once more.
- As per the communal ideologies prevalent in these countries, women were required to have a job. They had no choice. It was compulsory.
- Women viewed work as a means of financial security. Tech paid more than other jobs.
- Freedom of speech wasn’t encouraged in such a regime. Courses like humanities and social sciences that empowered such traits were shunned. It was risky to pursue. STEM fields were a safer bet.
- Owing to these factors, a generation of young women pursued tech in their societies, and now their daughters follow their footsteps.
As a woman in tech, one may be passionate about it, but can one really generalize that viewpoint for the rest of the world? Not everyone pursues tech because of interest. Is indirect compulsion or forcing women into tech a solution, as proven by Eastern Europe? Given the circumstance in which their societies evolved, young girls there, today, would be more exposed to the work of women tech leaders and are less susceptible to the stereotype.
Looking at Eastern Europe, I wanted to check how China was doing, given that it’s a communist state, and I was mind blown by the stats. There is a doubt on transparency, but if these are true, it is something to ponder about.
Very positive stats, right? Is communalism the answer to increase women in tech? It definitely seems to work, but is it the right solution? There are still so many countries, and cultures to look at, and every one of them has their own story of their women in tech. I think it suffices to say that your local story and perception may not apply equivalently to the world at large.
Is it okay to force a perspective into a community that is alien to it, thereby creating an artificial stereotype?
Is there really a necessity to view gender imbalance as a problem of the modern world? And these questions bring me to my next argument.
Let me turn the tables for a moment.
Why does hardly anyone talk about men in HR? More than 70% of them are women. A stark difference though is in the fact that there aren’t many movements, programs or initiatives to support men in HR.
- Why are most of us ignorant of it? Why are women ignorant of it?
- Did we all collectively and subconsciously agree HR be a women’s domain and diversity didn’t matter there? And hence most people don’t have any complaints?
I don’t know the answers, but I want to keep this thought in me when I fight for true empowerment. I believe empowerment is specific to each individual, irrespective of gender and ethnicity and it doesn’t merely come from equal treatment.
Let us now move past the political and socio-cultural reasons for gender disparity and bias.
Do you wonder if men and women think differently? If so, I wanted to grasp if there is any psychological basis for the career choices we make.
Traditionally, women seemed to have preferred careers dealing with people, like teaching, nursing, and HR. Men were more into dealing with things, like engineering. The ancient world must have fostered this division of work, as women were physically weak to pursue something like hardcore construction, or building machinery. However, there have always been jobs that solely depended on the intellect of a person. With the rise of computers, such jobs grew exponentially. As far as I have explored, I wasn’t convinced that men taking more tech jobs has anything to do with this perspective.
Another school of thought argues that students tend to pursue what they are are strong at. In my high school days, this was evident. On average, students who did well in science and math in the 10th grade pursued those fields, while others went for arts and commerce. The commerce class, interestingly had more women enrolled that the science class.
This is a very difficult context to generalize, with no conclusive research evidence to state that a woman’s brain works fundamentally different that they somehow are not as good in math and science as men. In fact, some of the brightest minds I have come across in life were women. I believe biological reasons as such has got nothing to do with it. But, if it actually does, can we really do anything about it, but accept this difference?
Men and women aren’t treated equally
Irrespective of all these viewpoints, let me now talk about my personal experiences, things I have seen for real. We all talk about gender equality and democracy, and I can tell for sure, it all ends with the talk. Gender equality is a joke in India.
I ask myself a question. If I was born as a girl, would I be able to pursue everything I did to this day? If you are a man reading this, you should ask this yourself too, to realize that you were privileged in a certain way by birth.
- Because I was a guy, I had the chance to use the computer labs at my college at night. I have spent countless hours learning new things, building my hobby projects and more. Yes. In most engineering colleges in India, men and women do not have equivalent access to technology and facilities. In short, a very basic human right like freedom is curtailed by something called “curfew”, in the name of security. And I think that’s the lamest excuse one can give.
- Because I am a guy, family and society treat me differently. I notice this often. Many times, I don’t even realize it, but it’s always there in the background. As you read this line, know that, there are still women in this country, who are denied to voice out their career goals, restricted from traveling to places further from home for a job or to pursue higher education. I have known women in such situations and I have rarely seen a man face it.
- Even at some of the most progressive and autonomous Universities in India, men are preferred over women for the primary leadership roles, be it in student clubs, symposiums, etc. This isn’t how things should be like. The worse part is, many women themselves accept it because the society around them makes it harder for them to pursue such positions. Why bear the extra burden for a lesser credit? If this is what the Education in our country symbolizes, what good change can we expect?
There is another side to this perspective.
- Today, almost every major tech company has special policies and programs to hire women engineers.
- Some, outright hire only women freshers.
- Getting a job in a Fortune 500 company as a woman in tech is somewhat easier than a man. The industry has adapted itself to be more welcoming to them. I think, the problem was never about women not being able to get a tech job, but what happens after that and the judgment of a society which they care about.
Are measures like these, true solutions? I don’t think so. They simply foster stats ignoring the real problem.
I have observed, not every woman revolts or fights for her rights. Some listen to their parents, out of respect or fear. Some sacrifice their dreams for their families. Raising kids could be a higher priority. There could be a hundred and one other reasons, some of which, men can never relate to, and all of them cannot be traced back to a singular problem.
The Change We Need?
After pondering about everything I discussed so far, I came to a few conclusions and outlooks that may help tackle the situation at hand. These thoughts deserved an article of their own. So, I made it into a separate one.
Read it here-
With that being said, everything I shared so far is open to debate and discussion. Societies are constantly evolving, and there cannot be one absolute ideology that applies to all. I am sure my thoughts will evolve with time too.
Before I end the article, I want to suggest you another insightful feature worth a read-
