Author: Leanne Smith-Hoover
Account Executive
Representation of women in technology is approximately 3 in 10 people across the IT sector in Canada. Where did all the women go? Wait….they were not here in the first place!
2022 may seem like a long time ago, but the latest statistics found by Deloitte reveal the percentage of overall female representation in large scale tech jobs sits at 33%. Compared in 2019, that’s a 2 % increase. It may seem negligible, but it’s a step in the right direction. But why is that? Why are there not more women in IT? What is the percentage at your organization?
I asked the same question… at Shing Digital – in July 2023, 20% of our workforce was women and as of TODAY – we have increased that to 28%!!! Moving in the right direction!
In addition, according to Finances Online, women hold less than 20% of all leadership positions in technology. It is difficult for anyone to climb the ladder of success. Still, even fewer women succeed. Who are some of those today?
- Sheryl Sandberg, present day COO of Facebook
- Amy Hood – Executive VP and CFO at Microsoft since May 2013
- Ginni Rometty – CEO, IBM since 2012
An increased focus on gender diversity is important in business because a diverse workforce contributes to ideas and skills used in developing products and services that don’t just cater to one aspect of society. There are also supporting studies that show diversity pays off for companies.
- Companies that score high in gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability
- Companies with more than 30% women executives were more likely to outperform companies that only have between 10% and 30%
- When it comes to work performance, companies with high gender diversity outperform those with low diversity by as much as 48%
- Teams that are gender-diverse are better at making business decisions 73% of the time
Our mission is to find out more and interview leaders and women in IT. Join me in July for PART 2 of my blog as I ask these questions:
- What’s in store for the future?
- What holds women back?
- What should we be telling younger generations of women?
- What should you do if you are the only woman on your team?
- What role can male team members play to best support their female peers in the business and tech world?
How many women work within your Information Technology department? Is this representative of the market….or far from it? Would your department performance and success KPIs improve from further diversity? Even if you are not sure, those conversations typically lead to a change in a positive direction for your business.
