Closing the ICT gender gap

While figures suggest that women continue to be underrepresented within traditionally tech-heavy, ICT-related roles, idiosyncrasies in the way these roles are described — including a strong association between ICT and science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) jobs — may be compromising women’s willingness to pursue business roles where ICT is also a significant part of everyday activity.

Those idiosyncrasies are seen in gender-gap analyses such as those in Deloitte Access Economics’ 2015 Australia’s Digital Pulse report, which highlighted the persisting gender pay gap — but noted that it is smaller in the ICT field, at 20%, than the 34% seen across the general workforce.

Still, Deloitte noted, women are “significantly underrepresented” in Australia’s ICT sector, where they comprise just 27.8% of all occupations. Women are particularly rare in “electronic trades and professional” industries, where they comprise just 3% of workers, but are more frequently encountered in ICT-industry administration and logistics support roles, where they make up 40.7% of workers.

Conventional career classification systems, however, tend to be based on long-used Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) career classifications and focus on categories that explicitly mention ICT. And this may both lead to underrepresentation of women’s profile in ICT-related skills and to a chronic misunderstanding of the fact that ICT is a core part of myriad other careers that are not considered to be ICT careers.

Sharryn Napier, who serves as ANZ vice president and regional director with business intelligence vendor Qlik, believes that ICT as a career choice is still not being represented effectively to young women who have — through social stereotypes and even the government’s linkage of ICT and ‘hard’ STEM skills — frequently been put off the arena as a career choice early in their schooling.

“The way we’ve packaged ICT to young women, coming through school or university, is that it’s a computer role,” Napier told GTR. “But what I’m seeing, and what is very much changing in the industry, is that ICT is really about working with people now. Technology is no longer the focus; it’s really about working with people, solving problems and taking technology solutions to business users.”

Recasting ICT as an enabler for problem solving and collaboration-intensive business roles — where women may more readily direct themselves — would boost female participation in industries where ICT is the means to the end, rather than the end goal.

“If we approached it in a way that is about working with people and solving problems, then we’re more inclined to attract women,” she said, “because women are very good at problem solving. And I find that the women in my business are very good at collaboration — at bringing people and teams together to work together. ICT is just an enabler.”

Napier was among several female technology executives who spoke at the Females in IT & Telecommunications (FiTT) lunch held in Melbourne on 4 March in the lead-up to International Women’s Day on 8 March. A Sydney FiTT lunch on 16 March will include: Intel Australia Managing Director Kate Burleigh; GoDaddy Managing Director Tara Commerford; Science in Australia Gender Equity Steering Committee Co-chair Dr Susan Pond; and Avanade Managing Director and Corporate Vice President for Australia Sarah Adam Gedge.

Female executives are not uncommon within Australian ICT companies and ICT-related businesses, said SolarWinds Group Vice President of Product Strategy Nikki Jennings, noting that “the landscape has changed drastically and it’s inspiring”.

Jennings never thought of herself as a woman in technology. “I was simply a network engineer and later systems administrator,” she said. “My goal has always been to immerse myself in my work, always be eager to learn something new and seize every opportunity that presents itself to me. To me, being a woman in technology is really no different than being a woman in any other role. It really comes down to drive, aspiration and a willingness to listen, learn and grow. Being in IT is an added bonus.”

Also due to speak at the Sydney FiTT event is Lynwen Connick, head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s (DPMC) Cyber Policy and Intelligence Division, who noted that creating opportunities for women in STEM subjects was a key aspect of the government’s National Innovation & Science Agenda. This mindset has been applied within DPMC where, Connick said, “we were excited our Cyber Security Challenge Australia had a record number of women participating and its first ever all-female team”.

“I have been lucky and had a lot of senior women around me when I started my career,” Connick told GTR. “They helped me believe I could.”

Greater availability of mentorship programs, Connick added, would encourage women to head down ICT-related career paths. “We need to get the message out that careers in ICT are rewarding, fulfilling,” she said, “and give us the opportunity to influence how technology will improve our lives and future prosperity.

“We need to break through the glass walls around career choices for women and the glass ceiling that stops some women reaching their full potential in technology leadership.”

There are signs that the gender gap may be steadily closing, according to Accenture’s recent Getting To Equal survey, which asked nearly 5000 men and women in 31 countries about their familiarity with digital technologies.

Increasing ‘digital fluency’ — something that Accenture defines as “the extent to which both women and men have embraced digital technologies to become more knowledgeable, connected and effective” — could speed the pace and close the gender gap within 25 years in developed countries rather than 50, as previous trends suggested.

Countries with higher rates of digital fluency among women have higher rates of overall gender equality, the survey noted, with millennial women more likely to aspire to be in leadership positions (56%) than current working women (49%).

Australia ranked well on measures of women’s education, employment and advancement, but digital fluency scores were behind those in the top-ranked Netherlands, Nordic countries, US, UK, Spain, Canada and even the United Arab Emirates.

“Digital fluency is no cure-all, and is only one factor helping to narrow the gender gap in the workplace,” the report warns. “But we have ample evidence that it is a key factor and acts as an accelerant in every stage of a person’s career — powerful in both education and employment, and increasingly important as women advance into the ranks of leadership.”

Image courtesy ITU Pictures under CC