Why it is the Time to Rethink About Women Leadership in Technology?

Research show that mixed leadership is one of the important growth factors of a company. It is a transformational leadership style where men and women leaders share the same vision, mission and thoughts, and work collaboratively to drive business change. Unfortunately, this leadership style has a long way to go to become a reality. In the technology world, gender equality persists as a major concern as women remain significantly underrepresented in tech leadership. According to IDC, only 24% of women hold senior leadership positions in technology.

The IT sector undoubtedly is one of the fastest-growing and fascinating industries in the world. It plays a crucial role in a country's technical innovation and economic growth. While the sector has always been dominated by men workforce, now is the time to close the gender-based employee gap by hiring more women in tech scenarios.

It is being said that having women in senior leadership positions can positively impact female employee engagement and retention. In organizations where more senior leadership positions are held by women, they are more likely to get equal pay. In addition to this, female employees feel higher job satisfaction and can stay with the company longer than a year.

How to Get More Women in Technology?

Robust mentoring programs can help women to get into technology, especially aspiring leaders. This is imperative because most technical women want to advance their careers, but they don't have access to development opportunities. Making gender diversity core to recruiting processes can also ensure the chance of hiring more women. Empowering women in the workplace through flexible work policies, generous maternity coverage, women's employee resource groups and mentoring programs will substantially contribute to a female employee's long-term engagement with her job.

Organizations must embrace an approach that fosters sense of belonging, helping entice more women employees while retaining the existing ones. Accenture, for instance, capitalizes on this strategy and gets the most out of it. The company looks to increase the number of female employees by up to 50% by 2025.

Providing women the opportunity to progress and recognizing them to succeed in senior roles can be an effective way to lure women into the tech workplace. Businesses can encourage female employees by promoting more women to senior roles that will also inspire new entrants and future candidates to apply to the company. Besides, transformational women leaders are good role models for young businesswomen that can influence women in technology.

Moreover, to expedite inclusive women's participation in the information technology space, there is a need for collaborative action from the industry, academia and governments. This is can be achieved by providing girls access to training and educational opportunities in STEM and IT at the early ages that will contribute to closing the gender technology gap. For example, the Global Fund for Women grantee partner Feminist Approach to Technology in India trains tech-savvy young women and engages girls aged 12-18. They offer skills-building courses alongside computer classes and training.

Many private companies these days are also coming up with innovative programs to create a diverse workplace. For instance, Accenture has created numerous programs in order to support women. The company has mentoring programs and a women's network to connect women working at Accenture to help them define their own vision of success. Tech giant Microsoft is also driving global diversity and inclusion through one of the largest employee resource groups. Its aim is to develop and support female employees at Microsoft with opportunities such as global conferences, networking events and mentoring. Girls Who Code, a non-profit organization, is another example that supports to increase the number of women in computer science and tech-related careers.

Closing the gender gap in technology is not a one-time campaign, it requires continuous work that needs to be developed, maintained and cultivated.