Women in Tech: Increasing the Representation of Women in Leadership Roles

Women in tech can offer an alternative perspective and diversify teams, these teams get better at connecting the dots and seeing the big picture.

The imbalance between women and men in tech remains: Statistics show that women tech founders receive less funding than men (women-founded companies only received 2.3% of VC investment in 2018), but make double the revenue. Before getting into the real business benefits of having more diverse teams, it's vital to state that correcting this gap and ensuring fair and equal treatment of women in tech leadership is paramount, if only from a moral standpoint.

However, bringing more women into the tech space isn't just the right thing to do. It's also the thing that makes the most business sense. As women offer an alternative perspective and diversify teams, these teams get better at connecting the dots and seeing the big picture. These abilities have huge potential in all tech applications but are especially impactful in areas like manufacturing and logistics technologies, where both a macro and micro-level mindset is required.

With changes in social values, access to education, and people starting families later in life, the barriers for women have been broken down considerably. This being said, women are still expected, if not required, to exemplify several qualities if they wish to make their mark in business or entrepreneurship. Out of all these qualities, women's leadership is the most important one. Women who demonstrate the ability to be strong leaders are significantly more likely to enjoy a successful career in business than those who do not. And, fortunately, many women are finding their way through the many obstacles placed in their way.

Increasing the representation of women in leadership roles takes more than just recruiting efforts—it starts with fostering an inclusive culture and improving access and opportunity for growth and advancement.

Women have valuable insights when it comes to devising products or services that better serve female clients and customers. Research shows, however, that teams with even one woman come to feel the "point of pain" necessary to perceive new opportunities and act on them. For companies tasked with understanding female consumers, tapping women improve the likelihood of their success by 144%. Having women among the firm's innovators is a huge step. Women's ideas can be translated into marketable products or services with leadership backing them.

Asian companies are implementing change management combining the empowerment of women and a boost in profits. In doing that, they are recognizing what research has been telling us for a while: investing in women is good business. In fact, enhancing women´s economic participation generates higher returns for economies, and indisputably improves the lives of everyone in a community. 

Women in the key decision and innovation positions deliver steadfast organizational transformation. Beyond the obvious impact of role-modeling that elicits women´s higher aspirations are the 'flywheel effect' that a shift in dynamics creates. Studies have shown that the conversation changes significantly with a critical mass of women in boardrooms bringing with them fresh perspectives on proactive collaboration and innovative problem-solving.