Narrowing the gender gap in technology jobs across advanced economies

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The share of women in technology jobs has increased across advanced economies since the outbreak of the pandemic, thanks to strong demand, gender equality policies and greater tolerance of flexible work arrangements.

The huge gender gap in the technology sector has narrowed across the US, EU and UK in the past four years, a Financial Times analysis of official data shows.

But despite the improvement in gender balance, men still dominate employment in this sector. This has led to calls for more diversity in hiring at a time when the industry is developing crucial new artificial intelligence technologies.

“We are at a critical point in terms of artificial intelligence,” said Athene Margaret Donald, emeritus professor of experimental physics at the University of Cambridge. “You need a diverse workforce to make sure… that you find some way to overcome any bias that exists. We need more minorities, women and people of color in the room to make sure we get this right.”

In the United States, the proportion of female workers in technology rose from 31 percent in 2019 to 35 percent by the end of 2023, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were just under 900,000 women working in computer programming and related services out of a total of 2.5 million last year.

The proportion of women working in computer programming and related services rose across the EU from 23 percent before the pandemic to 25.2 percent at the end of 2023, with increases in most EU countries, including Germany, France and Denmark, according to Eurostat ( Eurostat) official. Data.

In the United Kingdom, the proportion rose from 29 percent in 2019 to more than 32 percent throughout the past year.

Economists say strong demand for IT jobs since the pandemic has been an important factor. In the European Union, computer programming employed roughly the same number of people as accommodation until 2016, but has now almost doubled. In the United States, the number of such jobs increased by 15% in December 2023 compared to the same month in 2019, which is much stronger than the 1.5% growth in overall employment during the same period.

Bianca Stringini, head of equality, diversity and inclusion at recruitment group Hays, said the share of women in the tech workforce is increasing in part because there are more tech jobs at banks and consumer goods companies.

Such companies “are looking for diverse talent because they need to fill positions, and there is still an inherent skills shortage in these areas,” she said.

She added that in the United States, more women are taking on roles in areas such as cyber threat detection and testing, which have traditionally been male-dominated. “We are now starting to see women in all areas of technology as the market grows,” Stringini said.

More flexible working arrangements have also helped. Facebook said candidates who accepted offers to work remotely were more likely to be women. A report from digital services consultancy Nash Squared found that companies that only require people to be in the office one or two days a week employ 27 percent more women than those whose roles require five days.

Tech giants are also working to improve the gender gap in their workforce. Women accounted for 25.3 percent of new technology hiring at Google in 2023, up from 20.8 percent in 2018, according to the company's diversity report. The percentage of female representation in general increased from 30.9 to 34.1 percent during the same period.

The female share of Microsoft's workforce rose to 33.1 percent in 2023, up from 29.2 percent in 2019, with those working in technical roles rising from 21.4 percent to 26.6 percent over the same time. Facebook and Apple showed similar trends.

However, the gender gap in technology remains much wider compared to other large industries. In the United States, just over one in three women work in the computer services sector compared to 50.3 percent of women in management consulting services, 65.9 percent in legal services, and 55.6 percent in financial services.

“The gap is huge,” said Karen Blake, co-CEO of Tech Talent Charter, an industry-led membership group that promotes diversity and inclusion. She added that progress is “very slow and very fragile.” “It's like drops in the ocean.”

Women are still discouraged from technology subjects from their early years, according to Donald, which means there are fewer female workers with technical skills. “Our society…does not encourage girls to study subjects like physics or computing practically from birth.

There is also a risk that this trend will slow or even reverse as hybrid working declines and big tech companies report widespread job layoffs amid slowing demand and AI disruption.

Andy Hayes, UK and Ireland managing director at specialist recruitment firm Harvey Nash, said progress on gender equality in the tech sector was “very slow”. He argues that the post-pandemic gains were largely due to greater acceptance of homework – and are now at risk as bosses pressure employees to return to the office. “Equality, diversity and inclusion are not a priority in an economic downturn.”