Companies facing intense competition for talent can take concrete steps to attract more women to tech and encourage them on their path to leadership.
Getting to the top in technology is tough—and it’s especially tough for women. They often face hurdles to becoming senior leaders. It is critical that tech companies clearly understand what’s necessary to accelerate women’s rise through the ranks—not only because it’s the right thing to do but also because of the economic benefits. The competition to hire talented candidates for tech positions continues to be intense, and tech roles will be even harder to fill if women continue to be underrepresented in the industry and corporate tech functions.
Boston Consulting Group and the Women’s Forum, an international platform that promotes women’s views on economic and social issues, developed a picture of the work environment for women in tech. We surveyed more than 1,500 women and men working in tech leadership across France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, and we conducted 30 in-depth interviews with tech leaders. In the report The Network Effect: How Women Beat the Odds to Get to the Top in Tech, we discuss our findings, what stakeholders can do to attract women to the industry, and how to provide a supportive environment so that they can thrive.
Significant Similarities and Differences
One of the primary goals of the research was to understand how women and men make it to the top in tech—and how their experiences are similar and different. We learned that there are three significant similarities between these women and men:
However, on their path to leadership, women surmount challenges that most men don’t face:
The Crucial Role of Networks
A key finding of the survey is that when making careers decisions, women tend to rely more on strong networks of support for advice—such as recruiting firms, peers, mentors, sponsors, line managers, affiliation groups, and household members—while men are more likely to rely on their self-confidence in addition to their networks. (See the exhibit.) READ MORE
By Ashley Dartnell, Neveen Awad, Nadjia Yousif, Matt Krentz, Susanne Locklair, Sophie Lambin, and Jake Morris
Source: bcg.com
At a recent training I was facilitating, I invited people to ask me anything anonymously using polling technology. While the questions always give me great insight into where people are struggling with issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), this question seemed more universal: “What do I do if my manager is not inclusive?”
Our society’s tendency to look to men for expertise is one of the things that holds women back in our careers. But we can all help give women’s knowledge and accomplishments greater visibility, which will cause people of all genders to view women as experts and turn to women for expertise more.
Right now, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are under growing scrutiny. Some companies are pulling back from DEI initiatives amid nervousness around shareholder activism and possible investor or customer pushback. Highlighting the benefits of DEI to an organization’s performance and the wellbeing of employees is the best way to address this negativity.
