women in tech Archives - Enable Professional Services

Celebrating Women in Tech

March 4, 2021March 4, 2021
by Rachel Sparkes

Today is International Women’s Day. A day to celebrate women and note the progress we have taken in the technology industry.

The technology industry still has a way to go toward equality – particularly for women in leadership.

According to the ABS in 2020, the technology industry in Australia has 26% female participation which is lower than the 47% of female representation in the workforce in general.

A recent study in 2020 showed that Silicon Valley senior leadership roles were only held by 5% of women.

TOP BARRIERS:

According to the International Women’s Development Agency, there are four top barriers women face to enter leadership:

Conservative beliefs around womens roles
The threat of physical and sexual violence
Structural inequality
Lack of funding for women-led organisations

At Enable we are challenging the barriers and beliefs for female participation in technology roles and leadership in technology.

We are proud to have the following workforce:

27% of females in technical roles
50% of females in our most senior leadership roles in Australia

These senior female leaders represent diverse groups such as single mothers and women of colour, leading to inclusive perspectives, processes and policies at the very top of our organisation.

HOW ARE WE CREATING CHANGE:

At Enable, we know that women are more likely to ‘self-select’ out of leadership development programs and promotions at higher rates than their male colleagues in the middle layers of their careers.

Therefore, our leadership structures, succession planning and promotion processes are designed to remove these barriers for our future female leaders as they progress in their careers.

So how do we stack up against the tech giants of the world? Consider Microsoft: In October 2018, the company reported that women comprise 29.1 % of its workforce, but only 16.6% work in technical positions and just 23% hold leadership roles. Twitter said women fill 10 % of its technical jobs, with 21% percent in leadership. And women “Googlers” account for 17% of the search giant’s tech jobs, while only 21% manage others.

According to Forbes magazine, women influencing product development and business strategy — the two rungs at the top of the industry’s corporate ladder – is good for business. Studies show that companies with different points of view, insights and approaches to problem-solving have higher sales, more customers and larger market share than their less-diverse rivals.

At Enable, we strive to be a people-first business, and we know diversity and equality is good for business and good for each individual.

We are pleased to have a strong representation of female senior leaders and will continue to have programs to attract more females into our technical roles and to all leadership levels in our business to continue to create our competitive edge and opportunities for all.

To find out more about how you can support the IWDA and donate to help remove the barriers to women in leadership click here

Written by –
Rachel Sparkes
HEAD OF PEOPLE AND CULTURE

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelsparkes/

News

The Importance of Women in Tech

August 21, 2019
by Nicole Bailey

How does Australia compare to the rest of the world when it comes to women working in tech?

At a recent event, we heard about Enables high female representation of our own workforce including our consultants, sales team and executive leadership team.

Of our consultants 30% are women and 50% of our executive leadership team are female. This high number is above industry standards, let’s look further into these industry standards.

A research team Honeypot conducted a study that focused on 41 countries in the OECD and EU and offers comparable data relating to both the tech industry and the wage gap. The 2018 Women in Tech Index offers a view on gender-based employment inequalities both at large and in the technology sector. The team researched the role that gender parity plays in the technology landscape by comparing the proportion of female employees, gender wage gap and opportunities for women in the IT field, among other criteria. In sharing the results of this study, Honeypot aims to highlight which countries offer the best opportunities for women in tech and to encourage the industry at large to take further positive steps towards gender parity. *

How did Australia compare to other countries when it comes to representing women in the tech?

Quite well as it turns out. At 30%, Bulgaria has the highest percentage of women working in tech, followed by Australia with 28% and Romania at 26%.

AUSTRALIA’S STATS: % of Women in Overall Workforce: 46.45% / % Women in Tech 28.00% **

Why is this Statistic important?

Could you imagine trying to work on a team where everyone is your exact clone? This can be an issue, not only might you miss key aspects of a project; you could just end up with an output that is only useful to one type or person.

Diversity in the workplace is the new standard.

Whether it’s women, individuals that identify with the LGBTQ community or people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, the richer the workplace in terms of people’s identification, history, life and work experiences, the more insight that can be brought to an organisation’s output and ultimately project success.

Put simply, a diversified workforce can help companies achieve more and that’s why Enable, across the globe, will strive to increase these numbers and continue to employ a rich and diverse workforce.

Now that’s a reason to celebrate.

Source

**https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/03/women-in-technology-statistics.html
*https://womenlovetech.com/2018-women-in-tech-index/