When women claim they don’t feel inequality in the workplace or lack of opportunities for advancement, are they basing this solely on their own positive experiences, or are they rationalizing due to a lack of knowledge about objective statistics?
To explore the issue of women’s inclusion in greater detail, it is important to examine certain objective data and answer the following questions:
- What percentage of women work in IT companies?
- How does the pay of men and women compare?
- What percentage of women hold leadership positions?
Firstly, many people are unaware that the IT sector encompasses more than just programmers who sit behind computers writing code. Like any other industry, it is complex and includes many different roles.
Software is the result of interaction between clients and service providers, i.e., software companies.
Numerous managers, analysts, and designers who communicate with clients, analyze their requirements, create specifications, and provide guidance for programmers are involved in the development process.
Therefore, IT does not exclude communication and analytical skills, but emphasizes their importance and includes them in all stages of product development.
According to the ICT Solutions & Education portal, women are most dominant in non-technical positions such as project managers and business analysts, while men dominate in technical positions such as software engineers and system administrators.
According to data from the German portal Statista from June 2021, women represented around 30% of all employees in large IT companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Google, and Microsoft in the US, with about 25% in leadership positions.
If these are the statistics for urban corporations that dictate market conditions, should we seriously worry about the inclusion and equality of women in rural areas?
Objective data show that there are significant pay differences between women and men in the IT industry, and even leaders in the IT market such as the aforementioned companies have serious shortcomings.
According to statistics from Hired for 2017, 2018, and 2019 data from the US market, the current pay gap between men and women is 3% in favor of men, but in 60% of cases, men are offered a higher salary for the same position, and 41% of companies prefer to interview men for certain positions.
The myth of women’s inferiority in science and technology is still present, and you may recall this topic being brought up during casual conversations at coffee or house parties.
According to Forbes magazine, 77% of leadership positions in the IT industry in the UK are held by men.
The reasons for this disproportionality definitely do not stem from the stereotype that “men are smarter,” but mostly from social policy measures that do not support women who choose motherhood and make it difficult for them to return to work after childbirth.
Distrust of women’s competence in the IT industry is widespread, as evidenced by the fact that every hundredth euro invested in startups in 2020 went to companies founded by women, according to the Startit portal.
What is needed is to raise awareness of the problem and take measures to promote the inclusion and advancement of women in the IT industry.
This includes improving the representation of women in technical and leadership positions, addressing pay gaps and biases, and creating a supportive environment that encourages women to pursue and succeed in technology careers.
