Our next conversation in the series features Amanda Stewart, Managing Director of Illuminate.
What are some of the common challenges faced by women in technology roles? How do workplace cultures and environments contribute?
A large proportion of people assume women working in IT aren’t technical. You must work in a business support role, and they are often surprised when you’re able to help them.
Also some vendors, not all, but some will still go through technical aspects with the men in the business.
Flexible working does make it easier for women to WFH and with all the tech at our fingertips. It suits many to work this way, although I am still wary of the issues of mental health when isolated from work colleagues.
But work life balance can be tricky if you are working in a support role, as technology doesn’t fail between the hours of 8am-6pm and often fixes can take time.
For instance, dealing with a large ransomware outbreak within an organisation takes us away from our families often at the most challenging times, especially with a young family.
If businesses worked more on a caring culture for their employees, with flexibility, mutual respect and balance for personal life, they would attract a more loyal workforce.
How do gender biases and stereotypes impact women working in technology fields and what are the barriers that women often encounter when pursuing careers in technology?
It used to be a massive problem, and for a while I thought it was getting better. However my research has shown the number of women and young girls entering into IT careers within the UK has declined in the last ten years.
From discussions with my teenage daughter and her friends, it appears that they still feel that technology is for boys, they don’t want to join Computing classes or clubs as they are dominated by boys and the courses at school, especially at NAT5 level aren’t engaging enough.
It is only those 35% girls who are truly passionate about tech that are getting through these barriers. If they do get through and start a career in IT, there is still disparity in wages and lack of flexible working in a lot of workplaces. We’re only seeing one in six women working in tech roles with only 1 in 10 becoming IT leaders.
How does the lack of female role models and mentors affect women in technology roles?
We have some great role models in the industry, but we are not hearing from them enough.
Everyone is fed up about hearing about the imposter syndrome, but it is still very prevalent and many women peers I meet don’t feel they are role models, but they all have a great story to tell which will capture someone’s imagination, and if they only inspire one young girl or woman to move into an IT role, then it’s a fantastic win in my book.
From talking to young girls, it is the lack of knowing what tech jobs look like that is putting them off, they think we all sit in darkened rooms wearing hoodies for goodness sake!
What initiatives or strategies can be implemented to address and overcome the challenges faced by women in technology?
We need to be more like Bulgaria! They promote STEM to girls in schools, give equal pay and conditions and the government actively inspire women into technology.
We are seeing some great things happening to inspire, like – Girls Who Code, womenintech, Scotland IS Women In Cyber and organisations creating awards specifically to inspire such as CompTIA’s Advancing Women in Tech award, to name but a few.
How can the education system be improved to encourage more girls and women to pursue careers in technology?
Stop using the word STEM for a start, it puts young women off in droves. Get more women from industry to come into schools and show the fantastic opportunities there are, what a diverse and interesting industry we work in and what it would actually look and feel like for them.
We do hands on workshops for P7 pupils when we help with World of Work for DYW (Developing the Young Workforce). They love it because they get to pull apart tech and are engaged, not just listening to a speech.
At that point the girls are often as excited as the boys. But also I think we need to start at home, with stopping using lazy stereotypes and encouraging our young women to be curious in tech and ask questions.
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