There are many reasons why women are underrepresented in the world’s tech workforce. But here are two that HR can do something about.
Last year Google had a diversity scandal. A man felt the tech giant’s diversity policies were sexist, and that they privileged women in a way that harmed men. Which is another way of saying that the tech sector’s gender imbalance isn’t just skin deep.
Indeed culture is one of the barriers preventing women from considering a career inside a technology-focused company, says Christy Forest, non-executive director at LiveHire. Episodes like the Google memo act as a kind of red flag to potential female candidates, telling them that they might be entering an industry that doesn’t welcome them.
Ready for the job
Looking to the future, the expectation is that most roles will have at least some tech component. So it’s imperative that women feel enabled to chase after positions with such a requirement today. Key to that is having organisations become sensitive to the cultural differences between potential job candidates.
For instance, research shows that – compared with women – men are more willing to go for roles where they don’t fulfil some of the criteria. The reasons for this are complex, but from an HR perspective the solution is fairly simple.
Watch the video to find out more.
Finding gender balance in any industry is important, because it brings diversity of thought and experience it allows problems to be solved in new and creative ways. We know that women are generally underrepresented in Leadership, Science, Technology, Engineering, Math & Construction, and males are underrepresented in Health and aged care, Administration and HR. This introduces financial inequity too, because so many women are in lower paying jobs and casual employment. Diversity of thought has been proven to increase problem solving, innovation, employee satisfaction and ultimately profitability, its a game changer and strategic advantage. I agree that building an inclusive… Read more »