Women in Tech Day: The Journey Towards Gender Equality
Despite various initiatives to boost women working in technology, the gender gap remains unbalanced.
Women in Tech Day, marked on 4 April, highlights persistent gender inequalities in the technology sector. Within the data centres and infrastructure sectors, not only are there continued recruitment challenges in a competitive labour market, but the number of women in senior positions fails to increase each year.
Research from The World Bank confirms that women comprise less than a third of the global technology workforce, while Accenture data shows the ratio of women to men in tech roles has decreased over the past three decades.
The annual celebration of Women in Tech Day serves as a platform for recognising women's achievements in technology while addressing the structural issues that result in 50% of women leaving tech roles by age 35.
The Invite-only Executive Technology Briefing – Women in Technology is taking place at Tech & AI LIVE on 14 May at 155 Bishopsgate, London.
Representation challenges for women in tech
The Women in Tech network, which now connects 100,000 members across 179 countries, reports that women represent just 26% of the tech workforce globally.
Founded by Anna Radulovski in 2017, the initiative gained official recognition with the proclamation of Women in Tech Day on 4 April 2024.
“Recognise and embrace your uniqueness. I don't think the ratios are going to change anytime soon. But I don't think it has to be a disadvantage,” shares Erin Teague, Chief Product Officer at Character.AI and former Head of Product at YouTube.
“Being a Black woman, being a woman in general, on a team of all men, means that you are going to have a unique voice. It's important to embrace that.”
Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta and ex VP Global Online Sales & Operations at Google, who founded Lean In in 2023, adds: “The word 'female,' when inserted in front of something, is always with a note of surprise. Female COO, female pilot, female surgeon — as if the gender implies surprise.
“One day there won't be female leaders. There will just be leaders.”
Lean helps women achieve their ambitions and work to create an equal world.
Maxine Williams, Meta's VP Accessibility and Engagement and former Chief Diversity Officer, highlights the value of community: “For someone is underrepresented in the tech industry, it's a real privilege to be in community with others who bring the assets of their experiences, skills and perspectives to benefit the industry.”
Diversity creates opportunities for innovation
Despite the struggle to achieve greater levels of representation across the industry, PwC research actually indicates that women in technology report higher levels of workplace inclusion compared to other industries.
The consultancy's Workplace Inclusion Indicator Index, which measures inclusive decision-making, belonging and fairness, shows that women in tech have the highest inclusion scores across all industries assessed.
The tech sector is one of four industries where women report higher inclusion scores than men, creating a retention paradox for employers.
PwC's data even reveals that 31% of women in tech plan to change employers in the next 12 months, compared to 25% of women working across all sectors – reflecting the high demand for technical skills across industries.
The mobility of women with technical skills presents both a challenge and opportunity for data centre operators and technology infrastructure providers competing for talent in a constrained market.
“Our research suggests that women working in tech feel greater levels of inclusion and empowerment at work, a finding that bodes well both for the industry and women generally. Yet the fact remains that tech firms still need to do more to close the gender representation and equity gaps,” PwC states.
“In today’s world, millions of young women are still excluded from the workforce because they don't have the means to pursue the appropriate levels of education or the opportunities to develop adequate technical or digital skills.”
The firm adds: “Much more needs to be done to increase exposure and upskilling to the tech industry and the associated opportunities they provide for women.”
Our role as a publication
At Data Centre Magazine, we recognise our responsibility in championing the next chapter for the industry – spotlighting the companies that promote sustainability, inclusivity and new pathways to innovation.
We recently published our inaugural Top 100 Women in Data Centres list that showcases women that are committed to making the industry a more inclusive and powerful place.
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