There’s an unfortunate amount of bro-culture stuff going on in the tech world, and it’s keeping many talented women out of a field that was once dominated by women. In her recent book Brotopia, Emily Chang details her findings in Silicon Valley, and much of it is damning. There are company lunches at strip clubs, sex parties in the office, and women have a general feeling that they don’t know what they are going to be walking into when they are called for a meeting. It’s concerning enough that there are people who think this is a legitimate way to run a company, but it’s even worse that this is one of the things holding women back from contributing to an industry that clearly needs to find balance.
Women make up more than half of the workforce in the United States but account for only about 20% of tech jobs. There is a marked lack of mentors to help women achieve their dreams, and the gender inequality in this field has multiple causes.
There are, however, a few companies that are working to end gender inequality in the tech fields. Intuit has 8% more women working for them worldwide than the industry average, and they achieve this by investing in recruitment and retention of female staff as well as leadership development for women. Salesforce has focused on closing the gender pay gap by ordering an internal audit and shelling out an additional $3 million in payroll - which has payed off in the form of increasing numbers of women among their ranks.
Learn more about women in the tech industry from this infographic!
Infographic Courtesy of Evia https://www.evia.events/women-in-technology