What Keeps Women Out of Tech?

An article a couple months ago in the New York Times explored the question of why there are few women in tech fields relative to the population as a whole. The author suggests the issue is not so much discrimination against women as it is that the stereotypes of the tech geek are not appealing to women, and they feel like they will not (or do not want to) fit into that culture.

The article was written from an American perspective (no surprise; it’s an American newspaper, after all), and so I wonder how this plays out in Asia. Some questions that immediately come to mind include:

– How many tech startups are founded by women?
– What is the ratio of women to men in technical programs in post-secondary education programs?
– Do women bring a different perspective to tech, or is it all unisex geekery?
– How well are women represented in the tech functions in your firm?
– Are there incentives that encourage women to do something else non-tech related?

Perhaps the real concern is not that there is a push to keep women out of tech, but instead, that there is no push to attract them. “So what?,” you might ask. “If they do not like the idea of a tech career, why try to encourage them?” Fair question. The answer is one of talent availability. Tech industries are growing in Asia, and in some countries they offer a great way to bring people from low-income lives into better ones (and drag the country along with them into the modern world). For those companies to succeed they need smart, creative people, and if half your population is largely uninterested in your industry, you are going to have trouble finding that talent. We are already experiencing labor shortages in many Asian countries, and that trend is accelerating as the number of retirees grows faster than the number of new employees in many places. You simply cannot afford to have a large segment of your population uninterested in important industries if you expect those industries to reach their potential.

It is not just a matter of numbers. You may be able to fill out your workforce plan with enough employees, but if you are drawing from an artificially small talent pool, then you have to take some people who may not be as qualified as others whom you could have gotten. Is it worth making some effort to have a stronger workforce? (hint: it is).

Using the words “diversity and inclusion” in Asia still raises some eyebrows, but more companies are realizing the need to maximize the talent available to them, and that means making the talent pool as large as possible. If you feel women are underrepresented in your industry (and especially in your company), what can you do to make a career more enticing? Promoting tech in schools can certainly help — the earlier you get people interested, the more likely they are to focus their attention on a field as they grow up. Consider how you can encourage a school curriculum that teaches tech skills to everyone, not just those who sign up for a special class. Sponsor school clubs, or events like science fairs or hackathons, and pay special attention to encouraging female students. At the job level, look at how you write job titles and descriptions to see if they are unconsciously sexist or if they could be written in a more inclusive way. For that matter, look at your overall employment brand, and ask yourself if it discourages any particular group (not just women) from joining you.

Just remember: if people feel unnecessarily excluded from an industry, or from your company, then YOU are the one who loses. This is not about quotas, it is not about righting some perceived wrong, but instead, it is about building the best possible workforce for your company.

Isn’t that what we all want?