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Written by:
Christine Christodoulou

Stop the brain drain! Keeping women in tech careers post-35

We all have a part to play in addressing the gender imbalance in the tech industry. We got some great actionable insights from our recent Workplace 2.0 webinar on diversity and inclusion and now a new book highlights even more.

Published by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Women in Tech – A Practical Guide looks at the gender imbalance in tech professions and offers expertise, initiatives and real-life examples to guide HR teams on how to bring greater gender diversity into the workplace.

The editors point out that the proportion of women in technology roles has “remained stubbornly beneath 20% for the last 20 years”.

This was backed up by an Accenture report that I came across recently, which that found 50% of women abandon tech careers by the age of 35. And that women are leaving tech roles at a 45% higher rate than men.

Definitely figures that we need to change.

The pandemic hasn’t done women any favours either, the book suggests, as they have found themselves taking on the majority of the caring responsibilities, with their career prospects having suffered as a result.

The book aims to give readers some value-adding reasons as to why they should make diversity and inclusion a priority – and how businesses can place some urgency on the issue.

“It focuses on the steps required to establish projects to attract and retain women in the technology workforce, and drill down into specific activities for both areas,” says Editor Gillian Arnold.

Kay Hussain, CEO for Women Into Science and Engineering (WISE) called the book “a positive step forward for gender diversity” – but it’s reliant on businesses listening and stepping up accordingly.

As Arnold says, ‘equality is not only a moral imperative – it’s good for business.” So why not take 20 minutes this lunchtime and listen to the related podcast on the BCS website to see what actionable steps your company can take?

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