WOMEN IN THE TECH SPACE.

INTRODUCTION

Combing through the internet to find out what it meant to have women in the tech space, I encountered the obvious and rather fascinating insight of one’s inability to make out a clear definition of the phrase “Women In Tech” without pointing out the massive gender imbalance in the tech space.

Taking a glance through the technology industry, you’ll notice the wide gender gap and its telling effect on business in the industry. There also seems to be a global culture that depicts women’s slow embrace of technology and the industry as a whole.

This notwithstanding, in simple terms — A Woman in the Tech Space can be defined as a woman who is capable of fitting into the vast range of varied roles and fields in technology. She’s a coder who fits into the position of being an engineer, a front end developer, a back end developer, a UI/UX designer or a full stack developer. She could also pick up domineering tasks like Product Development, Operating Management, Marketing(Digital Marketing) and the like.

Additionally, women who are encouraged to take bold steps beyond the confines of software development into collaborative roles such as communication, organization, representation of the team’s ideas and projects, embarking on intense research and writing roles tend to naturally perform remarkably well which in turn elevates them into team leads or manager position in firms they find themselves.

LATEST STATISTICS OF WOMEN IN THE TECH INDUSTRY.

The technological industry has greatly come far and as such one might presume that gender disparity in the technology space would have been a thing of the past.

However, we see otherwise.

According to Techjury(source: https://techjury.net/blog/women-in-technology-statistics/#gref).

Only Thirty-Seven percent (37%) of tech Startups had at least one woman on the board of directors. Seventy-One percent (71%) of women who worked in tech companies experienced the strong bro culture where they either felt excluded, unsafe or very uncomfortable and more alarming, the ratio of men to women in engineering was noted as 5:1.

To crown it, In the year 2020, only about Twenty-Five percent (25%) of GAFAM’s employees were recorded to be females — GAFAM means Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft — the top five technology companies in the United States.

Despite the above, we cannot rule out the gradual and progressive rise of women’s active involvement in the industry. Women such as Melinda Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Martha Lane Fox, Susan Wojcicki, Belinda Parmar, Kathryn Parsons, Juliana Rotich, Dorcas Muthoni and many others have been a great inspiration to many young women both in and outside the industry. They have served not only as role models to other women but have also pioneered massively in encouraging more women into the tech space.

IS THERE A NEED FOR MORE WOMEN IN THE TECHNOLOGY SPACE?

Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics in short known as STEM; over time have proven to be one of the fast-growing fields in our communities — rendering several good-paying jobs as well as contributing extensively to areas such as education, healthcare, livelihood, businesses and to good standards of living.

For this reason, it is very essential to have women partake in the benefits these fields offer and also constructively contribute to new findings and solutions.

Women desire to make an impact in the world; research has also proven that the involvement of people with different backgrounds, races and perspectives perform very well as a group because of diversity. More than ever, women are needed in the technology industry to aid firms not to be noted only for having a diversified workforce but also seen as a strong hub that is capable of boosting performance at the business level and also producing innovative ideas and solutions for any company or firm. Thus, the need for an increased effort to bridge the gap of gender imbalance and have women also make an impact in the tech space.

Another reason worth noting is that technology over the years has been seen as the man’s world; as such, we need more women in the tech space to serve as role models for young girls and help drive into them the desire and passion to pursue courses in computer science, computer engineering and the like. Encouraging this will give room for women to pick up leadership, managerial as well as technical roles in the technology industry.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT WOMEN IN THE TECH SPACE.

One of the long-standing misconceptions hanging around women and technology has been that women naturally lack interest for a tech career.

Another has also been that women who exhibit much drive and passion to succeed in this field are seen as ambitious women hence tagged as “pushy”.This leaves women who find themselves in heavily dominated male tech spaces the inability to express or stand out for themselves without fear of being labeled as pushy.

There has also been a misconception that one ought to code to be in tech. Coding roles play an integral part in technology however, it is not the only means to have anyone find him or herself in the tech space.

Additionally, the inaccurate concept that tech is a man’s world and as such a hostile environment to women has created a stereotypic nature leading to few women pursuing careers in tech. As such, it is very critical to know that women aren’t expected to dress or act like men to prove their ability or get accepted into the tech space rather they are to believe, work hard and trust in themselves to embrace the wonderful opportunities of computer science and tech.

Women can do anything if they put their minds to it.

A WORD!

Words are powerful whether spoken or scribbled down and therefore when uttered in positivity and with the right energy, it causes whoever hears them or reads them manifest a positive attitude, the right kind of energy, passion or zeal towards a particular concept, idea or motive.

In this section of the article, we seek to share some brilliant quotes authored by some great women we find making significant strides in the technological space. Below are a few of their quotes that will encourage and spark a positive zeal and an “I can do Spirit” to any woman reading this article.

To begin with, Let’s take a look at a quote from Tracy Sun — Love what you do and do what you love. Doing something new and different requires a level of drive and passion that is really hard to fake. When your heart is behind what you are doing, so much is possible.

Amber Gordon also quotes that Trust in yourself, believe that your voice matters, and know that your words are good enough.

Women shouldn’t be afraid to put themselves forward- Sarah Woods states.

Cassandra Sanford also states that- if this is something that you really want to do, if you believe in it… simply keep forging forward because success will come.

In a nutshell, women have come a long way; In this article, we recognize the steady progress of women in the tech space and therefore able to appreciate the struggles, significant achievements and efforts of all women who have and are still contributing greatly to the tech space as well as inspiring other women to boldly step into the world of technology.

Let Women be inspired.

From Unicorn Developers We wish all our readers A Merry Christmas And A Wonderful New Year!

Written By Emmanuella Shika Tetteh.