Women in tech: Ex­pe­ri­enc­ing the highs and lows

Women in tech are important. As we shall see, the tech sector can benefit from a diverse workplace, and women play a role in that. There are un­de­ni­able chal­lenges that women in tech face, however, and for this reason it will be a good idea to review the current situation of women in tech in the US, as well as looking at some words of advice for women in tech. There are definite highs and lows for women in the tech industry, but with a good awareness of the benefits that women bring to the tech-table, we can hope that slowly but surely, those highs will start to outnumber the lows.

The US is one of the leaders of the tech-industry: Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft all orig­i­nat­ed in the US. This is not the only thing that these Big Tech companies have in common though. We’re sure you can guess what it is… that’s right! All were founded by men and continue to be run by men for the most part. What this doesn’t show is the huge number of women who work in tech and are in­cred­i­bly suc­cess­ful at their jobs. What is does highlight, however, is the his­tor­i­cal imbalance between men and women in tech in the US, an imbalance that is still prevalent today. Let’s take a look at two important questions, one of gender imbalance in tech, and another of women’s ex­pe­ri­ences in the workplace in tech.

A strong gender imbalance in favor of men has long been present in tech, and despite many Big Tech companies’ state­ments that they value diversity, the picture hasn’t changed much in the last six years. The data shows that the women who get into tech are often in the minority when it comes to the whole picture, and that despite growing awareness, there has been little change in the industry itself. Indeed, whilst there has been a growth in the number of women in the Big Tech companies over the last six years, only a quarter of tech jobs across the sector are held by women, and this number is lower than it was in the 1980s.

Fur­ther­more, sta­tis­tics from TrustRa­dius report that women in tech were dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and its con­se­quences on home and working life. In the same TrustRa­dius report, when asked if they saw remote working as a positive change, 42 percent of women in tech answered that they actually perceived it as a negative change, whilst only 23 percent of men in tech responded that they felt it was a negative change. The reasons for why this change was perceived as negative mostly by women isn’t com­plete­ly clear, but it points to the gender imbalance in working life, and a more ex­ag­ger­at­ed imbalance when it comes to the tech sector.

One concrete way of de­scrib­ing a gender imbalance in tech is to imagine an office of tech-employees, and in this office men outnumber women 2:1 at least, but often even 5:1. It is highly likely that women in tech are the only women in the room. This can sometimes con­tribute to a feeling of imposter syndrome, which can be difficult to overcome and can undermine a sense of con­fi­dence.

Of course, for some women in tech, being the only woman in the room won’t be dis­cour­ag­ing or difficult, and it is important to realize that each in­di­vid­ual will feel dif­fer­ent­ly. However, 25 percent of women who con­sid­ered leaving their tech jobs in a survey by Cap­i­talOne said that this was motivated by having unfair com­pen­sa­tion compared to their peers. Con­sid­er­ing that their peers were likely men, this po­ten­tial­ly points to the gender-pay-gap, which does nothing to help overcome imposter syndrome and feeling unequally valued at work. Whilst the chal­lenges for women in tech are very real, the industry benefits from having women in the workforce, which is what we’ll look at next.

Gender imbalance and imposter syndrome are two chal­lenges women in tech may be facing daily. However, one of the highs of being a woman in tech is that the industry really needs you. Different genders have different per­spec­tives on the same issue, and a diverse workforce will challenge stereo­types that a ho­moge­nous group may have. Rather than seeing you as a candidate to “tick the diversity box”, employers should un­der­stand that women in tech have so much to offer, both as excellent tech-savvy employees, but in the form of a different gender identity. Having a diverse workforce increases pos­i­tiv­i­ty in the workplace and seeing as we spend so much time at work, a positive working en­vi­ron­ment is surely a good thing. Both men and women are reported to benefit from a more diverse workplace, so your presence as a woman in tech is probably more valuable than you realize. Women in tech are in a strong position to help other women in tech, too, which we will address in the following section.

Whilst women in tech are (currently) in the minority, there are so many lessons from women in tech that can be learned to help your career. Let’s take a look at the ways in which women have been trail­blaz­ers for other women in tech, and take some sage advice from women in tech for how to advance and progress your career in tech.

One of the best things you can do as a woman in tech is to support and be supported by your fellow women in tech. Women will have come from different back­grounds and have different per­spec­tives between each other, but the fact that they are women in a male-dominated industry means that there is some shared ex­pe­ri­ence there. Sup­port­ing all your co-workers will be a natural part of the job, but if there is a new woman in the office, reaching out to support her will surely be welcome.

Es­pe­cial­ly given that 72 percent of women in tech have ex­pe­ri­enced a pervasive “bro-culture”, simply sup­port­ing another woman in tech will not be in­ap­pro­pri­ate or out of line. Whether it’s just being someone to grab a coffee with, or someone to vent to, support at work is so important and you can help each other overcome some of the chal­lenges at work such as having to overcome bias.

Un­for­tu­nate­ly, there are still lots of biases around women working in the STEM areas. That girls are bad at math and science is simply not true, but despite the mountains of evidence to prove these outdated stereo­types wrong, the bias still exists. In­evitably, then, women in tech will have to challenge biases, or even sometimes face dis­crim­i­na­tion in the workplace based on their gender.

According to a recent survey, 50 percent of women in tech said that they had ex­pe­ri­enced gender-based dis­crim­i­na­tion at work. You can be as tough as old boots and still feel ruffled by this kind of dis­crim­i­na­tion, and you could easily class this kind of treatment at work as a setback. Setbacks can be big and small but knowing how to overcome setbacks on a personal level can help you progress on a pro­fes­sion­al level, too.

By un­der­stand­ing that the world sometimes moves slower than we’d like, we can recognize that biases still exist, and that everyone needs to learn to overcome them. Women in tech may need to work that bit harder because of old biases still being prevalent, but with a good head on your shoulders and an eye for op­por­tu­ni­ty, you’re sure to shake things up.

One of the great things about being a woman in tech is the op­por­tu­ni­ties that you can find out there. Rarely has there been a time where tech-savvy in­di­vid­u­als are as needed in the booming e-commerce world, but also other in­dus­tries such as web-design and cyber security. The op­por­tu­ni­ties to further your career, keep learning, and get into a lead­er­ship role are out there, but you might have to do some op­por­tu­ni­ty hunting to find the right place for you.

If you’re a woman in tech, then you’ll probably already be familiar with the foun­da­tions of pro­gram­ming, but for anyone wishing to join the women in tech, learning how to code is an essential first step to create those op­por­tu­ni­ties. It can seem a daunting task to keep looking for op­por­tu­ni­ties climbing that career ladder but working with other women in tech and con­nect­ing with mentors is a great way to feel supported whilst putting yourself out there.

Community is one of the wonderful aspects of being a woman in tech. There are lots of career fairs and online events for women in tech, and it is at these events that you’ll perhaps make a con­nec­tion to a woman in tech who you feel can motivate and inspire you. Having a mentor who can talk you through the highs and lows of being in tech is so helpful in feeling like you’re on the right track. Don’t feel like you need to be tied to one mentor, though – different mentors will help with different aspects of your career.

Do you feel like you’re in a position to offer men­tor­ship to other women in tech? If not, perhaps consider that you’re more qualified that you give yourself credit for. There are plenty of women out there who will be happy to hear about your ex­pe­ri­ence as a woman in tech, and who will benefit from getting your per­spec­tive. Who knows, if things go well, you might even end up creating a coaching website specif­i­cal­ly for women in tech. It would certainly add another string to your bow and the business ex­pe­ri­ence might even bolster your ne­go­ti­a­tion skills – the final topic in this article.

Ne­go­ti­at­ing anything can feel un­com­fort­able if you’re not ex­pe­ri­enced at it! Ne­go­ti­a­tion is often as­so­ci­at­ed with feeling like you’re asking for something from someone, rather than a col­lab­o­ra­tive dis­cus­sion. What form your ne­go­ti­a­tion takes depends on you – there are five ap­proach­es to ne­go­ti­a­tion, according to psy­chol­o­gists. This means that you can follow the kind of com­mu­ni­ca­tion style you prefer and implement that in your ne­go­ti­a­tion. You don’t need to feel un­com­fort­able when ne­go­ti­at­ing a pay rise, or paid maternity leave. Knowing how to negotiate is a great way to improve your lot as a woman in tech and enjoy your career as much as possible.

Ul­ti­mate­ly, women in tech enjoy their jobs. 43% of the women who stayed in their tech jobs in the Cap­i­talOne survey said that their main reason for staying was the job itself, not factoring in pay or vacation time, for example. The work itself is therefore a huge factor in why women in tech stick to their jobs. In the face of chal­lenges such as the gender-pay-gap, un­der­rep­re­sen­ta­tion, and imposter syndrome, enjoying the job itself is hugely important.

A benefit of being a woman in tech is the support network that there is out there, although often outside of the workplace. When women in tech support other women, create men­tor­ship networks, it helps create a more diverse workspace. It’s not only up to women though, and everyone in the tech-industry and beyond can benefit from a more diverse tech world.

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