Tech She Can: Building the pipeline of women in technology careers

Why are there so few women in tech?

This is a question we asked ourselves over a year ago as we started to look into the reasons why so few women are choosing technology as a career. Our research with over 2,000 A Level and university students revealed that only just over a quarter of females say they would consider a career in technology, compared to 62% of males, and only 3% say it is their first choice. The students we spoke to consistently highlighted a lack of female role models, the fact that they aren’t given enough information at school about what working in technology involves and simply because no one is putting a career in technology forward as an option to them.

In order to solve this important problem we knew we couldn’t act alone, so we set about building a network of like-minded companies who are all passionate about improving the pipeline of females coming through to technology roles. Tech She Can was born out of this shared passion and desire to drive action.

Together, we launched the Tech She Can Charter in February 2018. Initially 18 organisations were on board, we now have over 60, who have pledged to work together to influence government policy, help improve technology education at schools and change the perception of a career in technology. We’ve also had backing from Margot James, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport officially supporting The Tech She Can Charter and  other industry figures, including Carol Vorderman. You can see the full list of organisations who have signed up to the Charter here.

One of the biggest aims of Tech She Can is to develop teacher toolkits that can be used in schools to inspire girls about the varied opportunities that technology can bring. For example, we know from our research that females want a career where they can make a difference on the world around them. Technology has huge potential to do this, but the link is often not made in school’s material. The toolkits are also trying to address the problem of schools receiving multiple offers of help from organisations, with material that often doesn’t tie to the curriculum. The toolkits will build on the work of our Hive Hacker programme in Northern Ireland, where we already work with local schools to generate interest and engagement in STEM subjects among six to 11 year olds, as well as their teachers.

Technology is set to transform almost every aspect of our lives and it’s therefore vital that we are attracting a diverse range of people to careers in the sector. Without this diversity, there is a risk that the products and services of the future only reflect one half of the population.

We’re pleased to be collaborating with such a diverse set of organisations on this important issue and hope that by combining our efforts we can really start to change the ratio of women working in technology.