Women in Tech Panel Summary: The Current State and Possible Solutions
At the moment, the number of women in tech is scarce. And even those women who hold positions in tech fields have plenty of challenges.
Why does this happen, and how can we change it?
In episode 5 of Future of Work Talks, it was our pleasure to welcome and discuss the women in tech case with:
- Sabina Ciofu, an Associate Director at TechUK,
- Zoja Kukic, Co-founder of XLSIOR, and
- Anna Radulovski, the Founder and global CEO of WomenTech Network.
Our guests shared their observations and proposed plenty of viable solutions on:
- Women empowerment,
- Current state of women in tech, and
- Challenges that women in tech face.
Let’s dive deeper into useful suggestions and amazing insights from Anna, Sabina, and Zoja.
The current state of women in tech is far from ideal
Our panelists agree that the present women in tech situation is bad.
Ciofu informed us that only 28% of the global tech workforce consists of women, and Radulovski said that women hold a mere 12.4% of the C-suite roles in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).
These numbers reflect the current difficult position of women in tech, and show us that there’s plenty of room for improvement.
Furthermore, according to Kukic, data indicate that during company layoffs, women are the first ones to be let go. So, she proposes that companies introduce a gender lens and understand why women are the first ones on the list.
Introducing a gender lens means analyzing decision-making (in this case letting workers go) through a gender perspective. Such an analysis would open questions like why are female workers let go before male workers. Hopefully, it would change the outcome in similar future scenarios.
However, our interlocutors recognize that not everything is lost, as we’re moving in the right direction when it comes to improving the state of women in tech.
For example, Radulovski mentions: “We are seeing more women in comparison to a decade ago, years back. We are seeing more women stepping into leadership roles.”
Radulovski concludes that persistent action is the key to improving the position of women in tech:
“You need to be constantly doing something to change the numbers.”
Workplace culture is vital in dealing with the challenges women face
Kukic notices that women don’t face many challenges with career progression until they become mothers. Then, once they come back to work, the company assigns them a mentor (implying they may have forgotten how to do their jobs), they’re given less complex tasks, and are left out of business trips.
While the intention behind these steps is not malicious, it affects women making progress in their tech careers. Kukic notices that giving women the type of support they need is fundamental:
“Because there is a dominant male workforce and male leadership, there is a lack of clear knowledge in tech companies about the best way to support women.”
On the other hand, Ciofu proposes that we replace mentorship with sponsorship in the workplace. When a woman comes from maternity leave, but also when they’re at the beginning of their careers or need help changing roles, sponsorship is the best approach.
For instance, a woman in a senior role can connect a female colleague with someone in the industry, or set up an interview between that female colleague and a company that she would be a great fit for, instead of simply offering instructions. :
“I think we just need to grow out of that mentorship concept and throw the ladder down for the next women coming into the industry. In this way, we can actually help them up the ladder as opposed to just giving them advice.”
This can work well at any stage of a woman’s career, whether it’s a return from the maternal leave, or if a woman is just stepping into tech roles.
Recognizing and dealing with red flags at work is paramount
Ciofu stresses the importance of finding the right person to talk to, especially early in the career, who can confirm whether a certain behavior is toxic or not.
Radulovski agrees with Ciofu and further elaborates on the red flags that women, especially women of color and immigrant women, should pay attention to:
“You don’t feel well or your comments or ideas are dismissed, you’re spoken over in meetings, or someone makes an inappropriate comment or joke that doesn’t make you feel okay.”
The solution she proposes is to discuss this with women in higher positions, and as Kukic mentions, not be afraid of changing jobs that don’t suit you:
“It’s okay to change jobs, then it becomes a normal thing and part of your career advancement plan.”
Further reading:
Recognizing toxic behavior and so called microaggressions is significant for our mental health. Read more on how to spot the red flags and how to deal with them:
Empowering women should include allowing for a non-linear career path
Our guests have mentioned that the key to building confidence is to forget about linear progressions.
To illustrate this, a linear progression in career is when someone graduates from university, starts working right away, and advances in career, usually within the same company.
Therefore, Radulovski recommends normalizing non-linear path:
“You can take a career break, you can make a transition, you can change your first job earlier than seven or eight years. And we must celebrate this reinvention, these career changes, risk healing, stepping away, strategic choices, instead of seeing them as a setback.”
Kukic says that being in higher roles involves making plenty of mistakes, which is okay. She adds that women usually have Master’s degrees, PhDs, and better grades at school — but all of this is not preparing them for real-life decision making and inevitable faults.
This can be solved by “letting women do things, make mistakes, get comfortable with mistakes, and then just get them to do more important things and get higher roles and higher positions.”
Further reading:
Developing a leadership style is important when you’re managing a team, and want to progress even further in your career. Take a look at some of the many leadership types in our blog posts:
Work-life balance can take many forms
Radulovski and Ciofu share why work-life balance for women is a pure myth, as women, especially those 45 and over, have kids. However, they also have aging parents they need to take care of. Lastly, they have to navigate through their own health challenges.
And if they need to work remotely or in a hybrid work model for any of these reasons, they often have to pay the price.
For instance, Ciofu notices that remote workers get overlooked in meetings, simply because they’re working from home. She concludes that this is not acceptable “because we’re going to lose the women if they have to choose between family and work. Because they can’t do them both, they’ll choose family and we’ll lose them.”
Finally, Radulovski voices her opinion on work-life balance: “I’m not a fan of work-life balance. I think it’s a myth. It creates an illusion that you can have a perfect split between work and life.”
She illustrates this by saying that it’s perfectly okay for her to work 14 hours on a day when she’s productive — but also to work only for a few hours on the days when she’s not.
Women in tech must find a safe community where they can grow
Our panelists have concluded that one of the main solutions to improving the state of women in tech is to join communities that enable you to feel safe and grow.
For instance, Ciofu believes it’s crucial to recognize that we live in tough times when it comes to the state of women in tech. The message she wants to convey is to “find your grounding in the communities that give you that warmth and purpose and empowerment at this time.”
Radulovski stresses that connecting women, especially through global conferences, is empowering, it gives hope and inspiration to those who might feel otherwise.
Ultimately, Kukic emphasizes the urgency of introducing women to tech early on in their lives:
“If we don’t work hard on getting more girls who get interested in these really techy roles, we will always end up talking about how to get more women in tech.”
Therefore, we would love to send a message to all young women out there not to be afraid to step into the world of tech. Only together can we improve the conditions for women in this field. Connect with other, successful women in tech, celebrate, and help each other grow. And remember, your career path never has to be linear. For more thoughts about the future of work, subscribe to our channel and check out the Future of Work Talks playlist.