New research has suggested that women are being put off from joining the tech sector by a ‘toxic’ culture in the sector.
Recruitment processing outsourcing provider Talent Works released its Women in Technology: It’s Time to Make a Change whitepaper to address a fundamental question: why are so few women working in such a booming industry?
The research, which surveyed 300 women in the UK and 400 women across the Eastern Seaboard of the US who had worked in technology or were still actively working in the sector. It looked specifically at whether toxic technology culture is affecting the number of women who seek jobs in the tech industry, and whether sexism is actively detering women from the industry.
Questions were also asked about the effectiveness of intervention in attracting women to technology work.
The findings suggest that having gender-neutral language in job advertising has little to do with women not choosing the tech industry, and that rather, women are not applying for jobs in the technology sector due to toxicity within organisations.
Furthermore, the identified figures show that, in the short term, company culture needs to change before more women will choose to go into the sector.
The research suggests that some progress has been made in attracting women to tech roles in the recent decade, identifying a few key factors such as safe working environments, and emotionally intelligent leaders as some of the top deciding factors in helping companies to attract female talent.
“It’s clear that cultural change is needed in the technology sector, and the main responsibility for that change lies at the top,” said Jody Robie, Senior Vice President of Talent Works North America.
“It is not easy, but as we have seen recently in light of Roe V Wade being overturned, companies are stepping up publicly to support women in the workforce.
“This whitepaper shares a list of clear recommendations and immediate steps an organisation can take to repair their culture. It’s time to look beyond using gender-neutral language and really move the needle to recruit, support and nurture female tech talent.”
Click here to download the report.