Women and IT Essay

Should There Be More Women in IT?

The number of women completing engineering and technology programs has greatly decreased in the last 30 years. Fewer girls decide to choose tech careers and prefer working in more “suitable” spheres for women. Therefore, women are underrepresented in the technology-related jobs. That doesn’t mean that women are not good at tech, although, a computer-science education and women are often incompatible notions today. Why don’t women choose IT? What are the reasons and circumstances of the issue?

The stats on women in technology are actually getting worse. The decline is astonishing but not unpredictable. At Google, women take 30 percent of the workforce of the company but make up just 17 percent of the tech positions. At Facebook, the numbers are lower. 15 percent of tech roles are conducted by women. At Twitter, it’s a ridiculous 10 percent. (1) In computing, there has always been a stereotype of male superiority. It will take a long time until women break the stereotype that boys are good at math and sciences and girls are not. It’s a reflection of our culture and personal attitude.

There are several main reasons why women don’t select tech careers. First of all, they consider it is not interesting. Lack of knowledge about the IT sphere forms wrong concepts and leaves a lot of prejudice. Secondly, most women think they won’t be good at it. They have doubts about their own abilities and don’t even try to develop the relevant skills. Thirdly, they think they are going to deal with people they won’t feel comfortable working with. (2) However, all those views don’t have the clear reasoning. Careers in technology are engaging, women show great results at it, and they need to work with interesting and extraordinary people.

How to motivate women to take up a career in technology? Due to the research by Penn Shoen and Berland, about 63% of teens have never considered a career in engineering. After being explained the impact and economic benefits they can have on the world, 74% of teens decided that engineering would be a nice career path. (3) So if women don’t consider a career in technology due to the lack of knowledge, all efforts should be aimed at improving the situation. Usually, women don’t know what options they have in a tech field and that stops them. Computer science education and trainings, after-school clubs and summer programs can help a lot. Large corporations can sponsor different lectures to attract more women in the IT field.

Business leaders think that we need to do more work in schools and colleges to guide girls into a technical career. Women also need a good mentor to help them achieve the desired results. The mentor can navigate in the right direction and provide a deep understanding of what is important to get to the next level. Technology positions should be made more attractive within the organizations to draw the attention of women.

Because in the modern world where the technology accompanies everything we do, there is nothing more important than having both women and men work toward tech career to ensure our competitiveness. We don’t need to suffer from the failure of applying the skills and talent of women. Women do need to join the technology industry. There are so many open jobs in IT sphere that the majority of companies cannot fill the current openings. Women should consider a tech career because it’s exciting, well-paid, and intellectually stimulating.

References:

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/women-in-tech_n_6955940.html
2. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/we-need-more-women-in-tech-the-data-prove-it/280964/
3. http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2012/06/05/heres-the-real-reason-there-are-not-more-women-in-technology/#60f000b41e9a