Women enter technology-related fields from different angles. Many look for positions where they can contribute to and grow with an existing company, and some, like me, jump head first into the startup fray. Whichever road a woman in tech chooses, the data points to the inevitability that she is going to encounter some type of gender bias.
UNDERSTANDING THE OBSTACLES
Half of women in STEM jobs report experiencing discrimination at work. That climbs to 74% if narrowed to just women who work in computer jobs. Much of this can be attributed to a lack of representation, especially in male-dominated computer science disciplines.
Females entering computer science make up just 25% of professionals in the field, with women computer programmers earning, on average, 96 cents for every dollar a male programmer makes. Half of women who enter a tech field leave it by the age of 35, with two-thirds reporting the lack of a clear path for advancement.
Women who go the startup route can also expect to encounter pushback, particularly from VC funders who may see women-owned companies through a lens of higher risk and lower return. That’s probably at least one of the reasons behind the dismal fact that in 2021,female founders secured only 2% of venture capital in the U.S., the smallest share since 2016. Women who paired with a man did somewhat better, capturing 15.6% of the VC money doled out last year.
Something has to give if women pursuing tech have any chance of beating these odds.
Continue reading: https://www.fastcompany.com/90802904/women-in-tech-gender-bias-and-tips-to-beat-the-odds
UNDERSTANDING THE OBSTACLES
Half of women in STEM jobs report experiencing discrimination at work. That climbs to 74% if narrowed to just women who work in computer jobs. Much of this can be attributed to a lack of representation, especially in male-dominated computer science disciplines.
Females entering computer science make up just 25% of professionals in the field, with women computer programmers earning, on average, 96 cents for every dollar a male programmer makes. Half of women who enter a tech field leave it by the age of 35, with two-thirds reporting the lack of a clear path for advancement.
Women who go the startup route can also expect to encounter pushback, particularly from VC funders who may see women-owned companies through a lens of higher risk and lower return. That’s probably at least one of the reasons behind the dismal fact that in 2021,female founders secured only 2% of venture capital in the U.S., the smallest share since 2016. Women who paired with a man did somewhat better, capturing 15.6% of the VC money doled out last year.
Something has to give if women pursuing tech have any chance of beating these odds.
Continue reading: https://www.fastcompany.com/90802904/women-in-tech-gender-bias-and-tips-to-beat-the-odds
