International Women’s Day: The tech industry needs to do more to be inclusive, say experts

It’s International Women’s Day (IWD) this Friday (March 8), and the theme for this year is ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’ under the hashtag #InvestInWomen.

Industry experts have long acknowledged that bringing women into the tech industry and investing in their futures is a core part of building a skilled workforce that can help further advance the field.

Despite that, according to a study from PwC UK titled “Women in Tech: Time to close the gender gap”, only 27% of female respondents say they considered a career in tech, far short from the 62% of males.

The report goes on to say that 61% of female respondents were put off by the idea of a career in the field due to a lack of information and advice on what being in the industry entails.

There’s also the perception that the industry is male-dominated that pushes women away from the field, a notion that was further reinforced with reports like the “2023 Global Leadership Forecast” – from human resources consultancy Development Dimensions International – which stated that only 28% of leadership roles in tech are held by women.

All this on top of the allegations of workplace discrimination and unfair levels of compensation.

In the wake of Elon Musk’s acquisition of X (then Twitter) in 2022 and the subsequent abrupt mass layoffs, several former employees filed a class action lawsuit against the social media platform.

Source : The Star