Women in tech: key to AI, online harm and digital safety, but why are they leaving?

[NicolaDMumsnet]

At the recent Bletchley Park AI summit Rishi Sunak and other tech leaders claimed that AI is one of the biggest threats to our existence. Whether you agree or not, we know that society is going to be heavily impacted by how well we can build the technology of the future. The problem is that right now, the tech ecosystem is dominated by men. If our future is being built almost entirely by men, how do we ensure it meets the needs of everyone in society?

Tech Talent Charter (TTC) works with over 800 UK businesses to track who exactly is building the technology that we run our lives with, and no surprises here: just 28% of the tech workforce are women. Even more concerning, we found that a third of the women actually working in tech are planning to leave their role. And a quarter of those who left a tech job left it for another role but outside of tech.

UK tech workers have a lot of advantages: they earn salaries that are estimated to be triple the UK average; they enjoy some of the most forward-thinking work patterns and benefits, and they have the skills to work on some of the most exciting and innovative developments for our world. So why are so few women part of our tech future?

Four horsemen of the tech industry apocalypse
We ran a survey of hundreds of women who had recently left a tech job to find out why. The results showed that there are four major reasons that women are being driven out of tech:

1. Poor work-life balance and the unpaid care burden: ‘work-life balance’ was the most important factor women highlighted as to why they left their tech job. Although many women referred to ‘work life balance’, what many of them actually spoke about was the challenge of managing caring commitments whilst working for an employer with rigid work expectations.
   
2. Flexible working with a hidden price tag: The tech industry is supposed to be one of the most flexible sectors to work in, with nearly half of employees having the ability to work remotely as much as they like. However, a policy alone does not mean a workplace is flexible. Women reported that if they chose to work part-time, their careers stalled. And those who were unable to control their work patterns were more likely to leave their role. 
   
3. Lack of opportunity for career progression: Four out of five women who left a tech role agreed that dissatisfaction with their career development had an impact on their decision to leave. Women want to progress in their tech roles, but poor action from employers on how to fairly and equitably progress women in their workforce pushes women to leave for other employers and sectors. 
   
4. Cost-of-living crisis and childcare costs: the drive to find a higher salary was one of the top three reasons why women left their roles. Many highlighted that with the astronomical cost of childcare and wraparound care during a cost-of-living crisis, they were doing their jobs at a loss. Without achieving higher salaries, many women who want to stay in work simply can’t justify doing so.
   

What should employers be doing to keep women in tech jobs?
Ultimately, if we’re serious about having a tech future that does no harm and supports everyone in society, it should be built by everyone in society. So here’s what employers need to be doing to stop the exodus of women from tech:

• Recognise that flexible working should be a right, not a privilege: there’s no clearer way to say this: poor flexible working practices are sexist. Period. Women - and indeed everyone else - need to be empowered to be employed and productive without needing to choose between work and non-work commitments. Many employers are now using policies to ensure that high-visibility work is shared out fairly based on employees' contracted hours and that employees can set the work patterns that work best for them. 
  

• Growth and promotion are the keys to retention: women in tech want to grow in their roles and earn in line with their contributions, so businesses need to ensure that women are being given career support and fair opportunities to advance. A study from TTC Signatory, NTT Data, found that more than half of businesses have now launched skills initiatives for both new and existing employees. Companies that aren’t investing in career and skill progression programmes are already behind the curve.
  

• Inclusive culture underpins everything, and it starts with empathy: businesses need to treat empathy as a core professional skill. Being able to create a truly inclusive work culture that people want to stay in comes from a million little things that help people feel included throughout the day. Seeing leaders championing integration and accommodation rather than assimilation in teams will allow us to benefit from the breadth of diversity. 
  

AI and the future of tech present huge challenges, and only by making women part of the solution can we build a tech future that can really save the world. 

Find out more about Diversity & Inclusion in tech and the Tech Talent Charter here. 

Twitter: @techcharterUK
Website: https://www.techtalentcharter.co.uk/home

[AIstolemylunch]

I'll tell you why I'm my experience shall I? Because men are still in power, apart from the odd tokenism, and men don't take women in tech seriously. And they bully and gaslight and harass them, because they can, and eventually force them out. Unless they are the acceptable kind of women that were born men of course, as they know how to behave like men.

[Thelnebriati]

Tech does seem to be heading in a dark direction right now, I don't think they are really bothered about retaining women or developing empathy. I keep seeing posts about women getting into deep tech, and wonder if most of them end up doing the grunt work, or glorified data entry.

[BadSkiingMum]

This isn’t really on my radar of things to worry about. I am far more concerned about the prospects, rewards and retention of women in low paid public service roles such as teaching assistant, lunchtime supervisor or care work. There is a recruitment crisis in these roles, on which vital services depend.

[JustAMinutePleass]

Women tend to leave tech in their 20s and re-enter it in their 30s-40s.

[Theaspidistraiswilting]

Place marking!

[MigGirl]

I believe it starts at school somehow. I was surprised when my daughter did GCSE computer science that there where only her and one other girl in her class, the same in her A-level class. This isn't any better then it was 30 years ago when I did computer science, something isn't working in schools to start with to encourage girls to do these subjects. You won't see an increase in women in the industry until this improves.

[ErrolTheDragon]

I'm not in 'tech' exactly, I write scientific software so not dissimilar. I'm fortunate that I found a niche where my skills were valued enough that I was able to ask for wfh before it was really a thing, and then PT work. But then again I'm not ambitious, my career could be said to have 'stalled' because I'm happy where I'm at...

Anyhow, I took a look at the 'tech talent charter'... the 'foreword' seemed like blether though maybe I've not had enough caffeine yet to discern useful content.
The 'top 10 findings' talk is notable for not using the word 'sex'. ... the problems facing many women in the workplace are due to structural sexism. Tackling this in any meaningful way takes more than words. They mention (as point 10) Mental health and wellbeing and reproductive health issues such as menopause and fertility ... is that supposed to in any way address the inescapable issue that only one sex can bear children, and that one sex still bears the majority of caring responsibilities (not just for children)?

Not the subject of this thread exactly but I think relevant - they don't mention people with physical disabilities at all. Another area of inclusion that takes money and effort to address.

[ErrolTheDragon]

@MigGirl

I believe it starts at school somehow. I was surprised when my daughter did GCSE computer science that there where only her and one other girl in her class, the same in her A-level class. This isn't any better then it was 30 years ago when I did computer science, something isn't working in schools to start with to encourage girls to do these subjects. You won't see an increase in women in the industry until this improves.

That's appalling.
My dd is an electronics design engineer - an area in which women are an even lower proportion than in "tech" - she went to a girls' school which had 2 classes for gcse comp sci, and a good sized class for electronics. Maths was the most-taken A level, and there were decent sized sets for physics and FM.

While single sex education is unlikely to be the solution this difference is informative and mixed sex schools need to learn and do better!

[Neitheronethingnortheother]

In all the tech teams I have been in the women get given the extra admin and organisational work because they are "good" at that stuff (writing processes, organising team days, mentoring graduates etc etc) whilst being expected to output the same amount of technical work as the male staff who don't get given the extra work.

Then the men get promoted to senior roles because they do "more" technical work, because the extra admin and organisational work often isn't seen as important enough to consider towards promotion purposes because women do it.

And male stakeholders tend to question the output of female tech staff more and distrust the results more so the female staff have to spend longer proving their work

So a job where you have to do more work for the same money, but are less promotable for it, and spend more time proving your work, for the same money, but are less promotable for it is just draining, exhausting and frustrating.

Literally the only reason this doesn't happen in my current team, for the first time ever in my career, is because we have a female director who doesnt appreciate this behaviour and is far more likely to view the "extra" work as promotable and makes it clear she doesn't see those who refuse to take on the extra work as promotable. All of a sudden men who have been refusing to take on any of the extra work for the last 3 years I have been there are scrambling to volunteer for it now its seen as valuable.

[ErrolTheDragon]

Tech Talent Charter (TTC) works with over 800 UK businesses to track who exactly is building the technology that we run our lives with, and no surprises here: just 28% of the tech workforce are women.

I'd not noticed this in the OP initially. The TTC report doesn't actually appear to say what proportion of the tech workforce are women. The 10 key findings just say
28% of tech workers are gender minorities, slightly higher than past years (+1-2%).

Access to the full report requires you to enter a company name and email. Perhaps someone from MNHQ might like to take a look and see if it says anything about women as a sex?

[AdamRyan]

What a rubbish post that is.
I've worked in tech for 15 years and am just moving out of it. Nothing to do with flexibility/work life and everything to do with it being an increasingly sexist environment where men can behave incredibly badly and be rewarded as they are such amazing engineers, and women walk a non-existent path between "not technical enough/too technical" and "not confident enough/too aggressive"

The industry is going backwards and posts like the OP act as if women are working in vacuum and there aren't large numbers of men behaving territorially and pushing women out.

[AdamRyan]

@ErrolTheDragon

Tech Talent Charter (TTC) works with over 800 UK businesses to track who exactly is building the technology that we run our lives with, and no surprises here: just 28% of the tech workforce are women.

I'd not noticed this in the OP initially. The TTC report doesn't actually appear to say what proportion of the tech workforce are women. The 10 key findings just say
28% of tech workers are gender minorities, slightly higher than past years (+1-2%).

Access to the full report requires you to enter a company name and email. Perhaps someone from MNHQ might like to take a look and see if it says anything about women as a sex?

Fucks sake
WOMEN ARE NOT A GENDER MINORITY
We are 51% of the human population. Makes me so angry.

[AdamRyan]

@Neitheronethingnortheother

In all the tech teams I have been in the women get given the extra admin and organisational work because they are "good" at that stuff (writing processes, organising team days, mentoring graduates etc etc) whilst being expected to output the same amount of technical work as the male staff who don't get given the extra work.

Then the men get promoted to senior roles because they do "more" technical work, because the extra admin and organisational work often isn't seen as important enough to consider towards promotion purposes because women do it.

And male stakeholders tend to question the output of female tech staff more and distrust the results more so the female staff have to spend longer proving their work

So a job where you have to do more work for the same money, but are less promotable for it, and spend more time proving your work, for the same money, but are less promotable for it is just draining, exhausting and frustrating.

Literally the only reason this doesn't happen in my current team, for the first time ever in my career, is because we have a female director who doesnt appreciate this behaviour and is far more likely to view the "extra" work as promotable and makes it clear she doesn't see those who refuse to take on the extra work as promotable. All of a sudden men who have been refusing to take on any of the extra work for the last 3 years I have been there are scrambling to volunteer for it now its seen as valuable.

And this too

[Floopani]

Even the OP is misogynist. Being female in tech doesn't make me the key to AI, digital safety and online harm, it's not only women responsible for being caring and protective.

Plus Rishi Sunak is not a tech leader, he's a twat.

[shockeditellyou]

Because men are dicks, frankly.

I went to an all girls' school that fielded 3 A level maths classes out of 100 sixth form studuents, 2 A level physics classes and a decent compsci class at A level as well, 25 years ago.

My local comp, which is far bigger, has 3 girls doing computer science GCSE. The problem is not women and girls.