Let's state the obvious fact: yes, the tech industry is dominated by men. This has a lot to do with the fundamentals of how women are generally projected. Well, you might be like, No, we treat women with respect and equality. Are you sure? Despite claims of respect and equality, the truth is women are often under-represented, underpaid, and discriminated against in the industry.
I don’t think any men who code or who work in the tech field have ever heard this line before
“Oh, how do you know about this? I mean you are a guy, and you shouldn’t be doing that!”
Both genders love computing and technology even though it is populated by Men, which again has been influenced by media and pop culture. Even if a woman is tech-savvy and enjoys the influence of tech like any other guy on the block, there is a mindset that women could never be as good at building tech as men.
Now, this is instilled in society from early childhood. If you are a boy, you are encouraged to play with cars, bikes, and computers, but as a girl, the first gift you might receive is a doll, makeup, or fashion set. This unconscious bias pattern exists in society, and breaking this pattern might take many centuries.
Now, the reality is, even with recognition or not, an undeniable fact is that women actually pave the cornerstone in building computing and technology. If we look at history, we can see that the first programmers were actually women. Even though you are synonymous with Charles Babbage, the father of the modern computer, Ada Lovelace, the Countess of Lovelace who worked with Babbage, was the one who suggested that the Mechanical General Purpose Computer could be used for more than just numbers. The first person to recognize that the machine had its own application beyond the number is a woman. She was the first 19th Century British countess to become a computer science pioneer. These women's contributions should inspire us all and make us proud of our shared history in technology.
Have you heard of Grace Hopper? She is one of the tech pioneers who was an active and influential woman during WW2. She made the most significant mark in history as a computer pioneer and naval officer, but her best-known contribution to tech is as a computer programmer and software developer. She invented the first-ever computer compiler, which eventually led her to co-develop COBOL, the first standardized computer language.
At the beginning of this revolution, programming was considered pink-collar. During the 1950s and 1960s, software jobs were considered mindless and menial, and women were considered taskmasters for these kinds of jobs, whereas hardware engineers were considered a man's job. In 1967, cosmopolitan magazine published and article called The Computer Girls, which branched out another opportunity for women. In the article they said that programming jobs as an existing alternative for secretarial work for women.
If we take on the stats, nearly 30% of people who work in the tech and digital sector in Europe are women. Now, it is noted that the gender gap in STEM remains higher than ever. Even in developed countries, the percentage of women working in the STEM Workforce is only around 26%. It also shows that 40% of the employees in tech companies is women. If you look into unicorns like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, you might think there is a change. Not really. These statistics should concern us all and motivate us to bring about change.
Apple has only 20% women in tech. If you go to Google, it again drops to 17% of its workforce. Now, if you think the other companies like Microsft and Facebook make a difference, well, that is just 16.6% and 15%. The lowest is Twitter, where only 10% of women are in their workforce.
Severalorganizationss have come forward to bridge this gender gap. Girl Geek Dinners, Girls Who Code, LinuxChix, the National Center for Women and Information Technology, and Syters are prime examples of organizations that are taking steps to bring about change to increase women's representation in the fields. They are encouraging policies to increase access, training, and education about tech among girls and women.
Nowadays, women have pathways to walk and are slowly growing in tech and ICT. I will share along the way a few people who inspired me to start working in tech, including Sherly Sandberg, former COO of Facebook and a woman who thrived in her roles despite the gender barriers in the field. According to Forbes, she is one of the most powerful women in the world and a living proof that women can thrive in tech. Susan Wojcicki is a business exec who also thrived in the position as the former CEO of Youtube, and Safra Catz, The Ceo of Oracle, started as an executive in 1999 and then climbed to become a board member in 2001 and is now the CEO. These women are living proof that women can succeed in tech and should inspire us all to be hopeful for the future.
My end pursuit for all readers who are reading this blog is that Women should and should be encouraged to pursue a career in technology with a concrete support system that would establish them. Several proofs across you show that women can reap gold if allowed. I hope that you are mindful of that.
