If you search “gender diversity in IT roles” in Google you will be served up about 427,000,000 results in 0.50 seconds.
A study from PCW revealed only 3% of females surveyed choose a career in technology as their first choice and only 27% of female students said they would consider a career in technology, compared to 61% of males. With the technical gender gap still present in the UK (a further study by Tech Nation shows only 26% in the technology sector are women), there’s a continuous need for society to encourage girls into ICT roles.
Statistics like this highlight the importance of days like today.
Empowering Women
It’s far easier for young women to aspire to a career in technology when there is a good representation of women already established in that field to look up to. While there have been a number of women to make a huge impact in the field, the lack of everyday role models is less than encouraging for women to enter the industry, with only 22% of females being able to name a famous woman in technology – try to think of one.
International Girls in ICT Day
International Girls in ICT Day is celebrated annually to encourage young women to pursue studies and careers in technology, with this year’s theme focusing on Access and Security. Beeks Group firmly believes that gender should not be a barrier and works hard to provide a safe and nurturing environment for all employees, regardless of gender. The inspiring women at Beeks are testament to this and are keen advocates of encouraging young women into tech careers.
We’re celebrating today by shining a light on some of the Beeks women in tech… they might not be famous but they are both inspiring and empowering…
Meet the some of the Beeks women in technology
“I’m Kate, I’ve worked in IT for over 20 years. I’m a Senior QA Engineer at Beeks. This role involves ensuring the quality of our systems is high through various testing processes”.
“Hi, I am Michele and I am a cyber-security analyst”.
“Hello, I’m Sarah and I have worked in varied roles within ICT for the past 9+ years. My current role is Project Manager working with our technical teams to deliver efficient infrastructure projects for our growing international client base”.
“I’m Kathleen and I work as a Business Analyst at Beeks and previous to that I was a developer”.
“I’m Jade and I work as a network engineer within the NOC. I joined Beeks after graduating from university and since then, I have been part of internal projects for the automation system, Proximity Cloud… and continuously learning”.
We asked this illustrious team of women to offer some of their experiences and knowledge to girls looking at a career in tech:
Why its important for more women to join the tech industry
Kate thinks it’s important for more women to join the technology industry as it would give a more balanced perspective to projects.
“When I first started working in the IT industry, I was the only female in the company other than the HR Manager. When I had a baby, the company didn’t even have a maternity policy, so I helped to create one”.
Jade believes it is important for other women to join the industry for other younger girls to have role models in the technology sector. “It’s not one gender using technology therefore should be both genders supporting the advance of new technologies”.
Michele agrees that it is important to have a diverse and talented team in technology.
“I think it is important for more woman and girls to join the technology industry because it is a varied and fast paced environment.” said Sarah, “There is lots of opportunity for growth and development allowing us to contribute to the development of innovative demands”.
Kathleen thinks a more even split of gender is very important in any industry, but concluded “…there does seem to be in particular a lack of women working in IT. It should be that STEM and IT should reflect how far women have come and in 2022, it does seem like women should be further forward in those industries.”
She suggested that women should be educated at school to pursue technical subjects and at university to pursue careers that have traditionally been male orientated.
Encouraging girls in tech
Kate believes things have improved over the years suggesting that the introduction of social media means girls are no longer ‘afraid’ of technology and can see that they can use it well. “Things have improved… but we could always be doing more”.
Its Jade’s opinion that companies are far better at pushing the women in technology movement. “I see many companies, including Beeks encourage the next generation of girls into technology sector. We are still not doing enough as there is not an equal split of gender and it’s my belief that we should be better at encouraging girls into studying technology at an early age within the education system… to show early in education that technology is not a boy’s subject”.
Michele said “it is important to have a diverse and talented team in technology and I do think that we have improve immensely in advertising and encouraging women/girls into technology”.
Sarah agrees that more could be done within schools to encourage girls to join the tech industry. “Many women across top tier companies are in senior management positions and I think it is important to show that representation within our younger generation to allow them to visualise their future as a female leader in tech”.
Kathleen wonders why it is that more women are not recruited, commenting “is it the calibre of candidates or are women just not applying? I think if either scenario is true then more needs to be done to give women the confidence to apply for STEM & IT roles and this should start at school”.
Advice for females starting in the tech sector
Kate would say to females that “they are as capable of doing well as anyone else is…. just give it a go – and believe in yourself!”.
Jade’s advice is to “find your voice and use it. Try not doubt yourself. Something I wish I knew is that my confidence would increase – it will never stop growing!”.
“Don’t limit yourself with perceptions that an industry is for any one type” Michele advises, “if you are passionate about it, go for it”.
Kathleen reflected, “I think I would tell my younger self to have more confidence and that there is no reason that women cannot be successful in this role. If an industry is male dominated, then it can only change if more women are educated to believe that a role in IT is achievable”.
Sarah concludes, “Believe in yourself and know your worth”.
Striving to be better
Beeks continues to empower our women technology and this successful team of women hope to encourage others into the field of technology.
As a company we will continue to blog about our enthusiastic women in technology and are continually looking at ways to encourage more women and young girls into technology by shining light on this rewarding career path.
We are excited to team up with local groups like SMART STEMS in the future to further advocate more women in technology.
Jade concludes, “The whole Beeks team continues to empower our team of techie women and our male techies continue to support us on this journey each step of the way… and from me personally, a massive shout out to Gordon our CEO for supporting my tech journey”.
#empoweredbybeeks #GirlsInICT
