- Ensuring 30% of your tech employees are women can drive competitive advantage for businesses says Dice®Women in Tech panel
- Move from targets to quotas could end logjam
- Call for schools programme to change perception of the industry
Employers all over the UK can benefit from improved business performance and competitive advantage by ensuring that at least 30% of their tech staff are female, according to a newly-formed technology industry working group.
The inaugural Dice Women in Tech roundtable, hosted by Dice the online career site for the technology community, brought together representatives from across the technology industry to discuss the current status of women in the sector.
The panel, which comprised both technology recruiters and female tech professionals, concluded that the introduction of quotas rather than targets might be the only available option for increasing female representation in the tech industry.
Figures from the BCS Women in I.T Scorecard show that 17% of the technology industry is made up of women, a figure that has remained relatively flat in recent years. The same annual report shows that in addition to this, only 10% of CIOs (Chief Information Officers) in the UK are female.
The event took place at London & Partners last week and included participants from the Government’s Digital Service, Decoded, EY and Hays alongside a number of small business owners. The full list of attendees is provided below:
- Louise Proddow, Managing Director of Tweak UK
- Rosie Warin, CEO of Kin & Co
- Paulina Sygulska, Founder of GrantTree
- Gillian Arnold, Tectre, MD & BSC Women, Chair
- Heidi Gates, Business Manager at Hays Technology
- Lucy Aspinall, Recruitment Advisor at Government Digital Service
- Fiona Capstick, Business Technology Enablement Leader at EY
- Harriet Wright, Business Innovation Director, Decoded
As well as championing quotas to ensure that greater numbers of women enter the tech sector, the group also called upon the education system to change the ‘branding of technology’ to attract more females to the subject throughout their school, college and university years. The group called for OFSTED to outline a set of objectives to educational institutions designed to increase the uptake of tech subjects amongst young women.
The working group’s full recommendations are:
- The introduction of quotas within technology recruitment to get female employee headcount to 30% from the current figure of 17%
- The creation of a programme targeting schools to help change current perceptions of technology as a career option
- A commitment from the industry to make fundamental changes to their recruitment processes
- The introduction of tax breaks for businesses that exceed their quota obligations to motivate companies to change the profile of their workforce
Jamie Bowler, Marketing Director for Dice Europe comments, ‘The inaugural Dice Women in Tech roundtable highlighted some of the frustrations that are shared amongst both technology recruiters and women looking to forge careers within the sector.
There is a huge pool of untapped talent to be unlocked as a result of improving diversity in the tech sector. We are calling on the industry to proactively recruit females into the technology space. We often talk about the skills gap within the technology sector and it is clear that one solution could lie within this untapped candidate market.
We also need the help of schools, colleges and universities. By championing technology as an industry that women can carve a successful career in at the earliest possible opportunity, these educational institutions can help us create a pipeline of young women engaged with and enthused by the idea of a tech career ’
The full version of the Dice Women In Tech White Paper can be downloaded here: http://tinyurl.com/gsza6j6
A video capturing the story of the day can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtPMmTyzSHk&feature=youtu.be