The window to elevate women in technology is wide open

How a hybrid work model could remedy the opportunity gap 

Women have long been unsung pioneers in technology. The term “software engineering” was coined by computer programmer, Margaret Hamilton, who is credited with leading the team that landed Apollo 11 on the moon in 1969. Hedy Lamarr, a self-taught inventor, was awarded a patent in 1942 for her “secret communication system” that would inspire and inform the development of Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth technology.  

While there are many women who helped create the field of computer science, one of them being the co-founder of Cisco, Sandy Lerner, the number of women entering technology fields has declined in recent times – from 27% since 2018, to 25% in 2021 – despite making up half of the U.S. workforce.  

The pandemic didn’t help matters. Nearly 3 million American women have left the labor force over the past year in a coronavirus-induced exodus that reflects persistent pay inequality, undervalued work and antiquated notions of caregiving. In the tech industry, COVID has compounded the disproportional stress women face in the IT workplace, putting careers at risk, as well as nearly a decade of progress toward gender equity. 

I’d like to address the confluence of circumstances that have created a perfect storm for businesses, leaders, hiring managers and women to close the gender gap in rapid succession: 

We have a unique window of opportunity, now.  The dramatic flip to remote work in the corporate world over the past 18 months offers up a rare moment in time to redress opportunity for women. If we act now and take advantage of a new way of thinking about work, and adopt inclusive practices and technology, we can attack the barriers to progress on multiple levels. We can level the playing field and breathe new life into our quest for gender parity.  

The confluence of circumstances that have held women back during the pandemic, can also offer a gateway to bringing more women back into the fray. Two pandemic-induced business shifts hold the key to a rebalancing of gender in tech. The first is flexible working hours and practices. The second is tangible inclusive business practices augmented by inclusive collaboration and communications tools that support the equity in how teams operate. While this isn’t the silver bullet in its entirety, the mainstreaming of both shifts could kick-start the comeback of women in the industry. 

We already have the information we need to change the trajectory of women in tech. The data shows a myriad of factors are causing this shortfall of women in tech. Armed with this data, businesses now have the power to take informed, well-intentioned steps in changing this trajectory. An obvious problem to crack today is the gender pay gap. Despite its narrowing slightly over the last few years, it persists in the tech industry. In 2020, male job candidates were offered higher salaries than their female counterparts for the same role at the same company 59% of the time.  

Businesses today can start by conducting a pay audit, by ensuring that hiring and promotions are fair and filter out conscious or unconscious biases in the process, by making sure women are aware of and are considered for opportunities for advancement, and by making it the norm for women to negotiate. For more on specific steps businesses can make check out Lean In.  

The gender gap is an opportunity gap. It’s not an aptitude gap, or a skills gap.  

There are plenty of women out there with the knowledge, skills and aptitude to be effective contributors to the tech industry. There are still misconceptions, however, about why there continues to be a dearth of women in the industry. 

While many still argue that there’s a pipeline issue, or a so-called “skills gap”, I believe this is a misnomer. There is far more empirical and historical evidence to suggest that gender biases remain pervasive in business culture today and are the systemic deterrent to women defecting from the tech industry. 

We need to address these biases head on to open more doors and accelerate opportunities for women – both in terms of professional development and career advancement, and by creating paths back to the industry after a leave of absence. If organizations really want to invest in a diverse and inclusive workforce, they’ll need to tackle these biases with the same rigor they do any other business problem, with metrics to hold themselves to account.  

Opportunity for women begets opportunity for business growth and innovation. 

It is encouraging that there’s a growing awareness in the corporate world that walking-the-walk on diversity and creating more opportunity for women in tech have huge advantages – for business performance, innovation, and growth. But awareness isn’t going to cut it.  

The pandemic is proving to be one of the greatest leadership tests of the C-Suite across the globe. From protecting the health and safety of their employees and customers, to navigating unexpected disruption to their operations, to planning for recovery on an ever-changing timeline, to reimagining business models for the next “normal”.  

We know that the most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability. And this is even more paramount when faced with the historic upheaval of a global crisis. A diverse workforce could be the difference between a company that merely survives future calamitous events, or global economic turbulence, and a company that thrives through them, helping customers and communities to do the same.    

Giving women a reason to believe in the tech industry again and to believe in themselves. 

By leaning into this movement with inclusive hybrid working models, we’ll be redressing a multitude of issues that have plagued business, and women in tech, for too long. Bringing more diverse talent back into the fold and knocking down the gender specific barriers will not only spark innovation, growth, and profitability for business. It will create a knock-on effect in building cultural agility into the entire system, so that when the next world crisis happens, we’ll all be better prepared to go beyond just surviving. With the unique talents women bring to complex problem solving, we can all thrive.