More Lady Geeks Please

Women in technology, is it an oxymoron?

The answer should be a big, loud  ‘No’. However, there are still very small numbers of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In the UK, women make up 49% of labour force and just 17% work in technology.
Considering girls do better than boys in science subjects, for the academic year 2011/2012 only 18% females undertook a technology related course.

The question remains: why don’t women pursue careers in these fields?
According to Paul Breslin, web developer at Dhalco Web Solutions, there are not enough female role models in technology. “There is Dana Wollman, Managing Editor of Engadget and Marissa Mayer, President and CEO of Yahoo but there aren’t many others. It is important that there are more female role models in STEM, so that girls see it as a fitting career. Another thing is the stereotype that IT and web development is a masculine field.”

From a female point of view, Jo Johal, Operations Manager at Dhalco, a web solutions company, thinks: “Women believe that working in tech will mean being in a predominantly male environment. Which will on the other hand make them feel uncomfortable. Another reason is the stereotype that ‘men are better in IT’ which makes females believe that they don’t match the criteria. The third reason, doesn’t come as much of a surprise, women don’t find IT interesting.”

Having more women in STEM is essential. They are often great communicators and life without the dynamic of having a mixture of men and women in the workforce will be boring. Diversity in the workplace is essential for generating great ideas and drive innovation.

The Harvard Business Review has calculated that technology companies with more women on their management teams have 34% higher return of investment. The explanation is simple- diversity. Variety in the work place is important for every industry but it is especially relevant when it comes to technology. Tech is the way people communicate with each other thus tech products must appeal to as many people as possible of both genders. For that, women and men must be in the same room.

All this being said, in Helen Cczerski’s article for The Guardian The view that computers are technology but sewing isn't is a sexist stitch-up, becomes clear that women are more technologically advanced than they think or care to take pride for.