Diversity is critical to IT performance. Diverse teams perform better, hire better talent, have more engaged members, and retain workers better than those that don’t focus on diversity and inclusion, according to a recent report from McKinsey. Despite this, women remain widely underrepresented in IT roles.
And the numbers back up this assertion, often in stark ways. Lack of representation for women in the IT industry can be attributed to a wide array of often interrelated factors, and its persistence has follow-on effects in terms of compensation, opportunity, and safety in the workplace. Companies that emphasize equity and inclusion, however, are making inroads when it comes to promoting the careers of women and retaining them.
Statistics from the following eight facets of IT careers, from pursuing a degree to navigating the workplace environment, paint a clear picture of the challenges women face in finding equal footing in an IT career.
The employment gap
Despite national conversations about the lack of diversity in tech, women are disproportionally missing out on the ongoing boom in IT jobs. While women make up 47% of all employed adults in the US, as of 2024, women comprise only 35% of STEM workers, and held just 35% of tech jobs at the end of 2023, according to data from The World Bank.
In fact, the ratio of women to men in tech roles has decreased over the past 30 years, with half of women who go into tech dropping out by the age of 35, according to data from Accenture. The study attributes much of this decline to a lack of inclusivity for women in the industry. For women of color, and lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LBT) women, this lack of inclusivity plays an even larger factor. For example, 67% of women of color in less-inclusive college environments said they saw a “clear pathway from studying tech, engineering, or math to a related career,” compared to 79% of other women. But when adjusted for more inclusive environments, that number jumps to 92%.
A report from the ISACA surveying over 7,700 IT professionals found that 87% agree there’s a significant lack of gender diversity in the tech community. But despite this perception, only 41% of companies surveyed said they had “specific mechanisms in place to hire more women.” Additionally, 74% of businesses said they acknowledge there are challenges to attracting and retaining employees, and that they haven’t properly addressed the gender imbalances that exist in the tech sector.
The equity gap
Women of color face more significant challenges in the tech industry. While a total of 27% of computing roles are held by women, only 3% and 2% are held by Black and Hispanic women, respectively, according to Accenture. Out of 390 women of color in tech surveyed, only 8% said it’s easy for them to thrive, compared to 21% of all women. In less-inclusive company cultures, 62% of women of color say they’ve experienced inappropriate remarks or comments, a number that drops to 14% for inclusive cultures.
LBT women in IT face similar barriers, with only 9% reporting it’s easy to thrive in tech, while 23% of non-LBT women say the same. LBT tech workers also face higher rates of experiencing public humiliation, embarrassment, or bullying in the workplace. The survey also found that 83% of LBT women working in more-inclusive cultures reported loving their jobs, and 85% describe their workplace environment as empowering compared to 35% and 20%, respectively, in less-inclusive environments. Similarly, LBT women in less-inclusive cultures were twice as likely to say they experienced inappropriate remarks or comments, and were made to feel that the job wasn’t for “people like them.”
The pay gap
Women aren’t only underrepresented in tech, they’re also underpaid. Women earn, on average, $15,000 less than men, earning an average annual salary of $99,000 per year compared to around $114,000 for men, according to data from tech career website Dice.
Fewer women also reported receiving raises compared to men (52% vs 56%), and only 40% of women received bonuses that boosted their annual income compared to 53% of men.
Women are also more concerned with compensation than what stereotypes say, according to a 2019 report on Women in Technology from IDC. There’s a myth that women are more preoccupied with benefits and flexibility, but 52% of women care about compensation and pay compared to 33% of men. Additionally, 75% of men believe their employer offers equal pay while only 42% of women say the same.
The promotion gap
Women also face more barriers to promotion and career growth. A 2022 report from McKinsey found that only 87 women and 82 women of color are promoted to manager for every 100 men across every industry, but when isolated for tech, that number drops to 52 women for every 100 men. Women who work in more inclusive environments are 61% more likely to advance to management level, while that number jumps to 77% for women of color, according to further data from Accenture. Men are even 15% more likely to get promoted to a management position when working in a more-inclusive environment.
Compared to other non-tech industries, women in technology roles have some of the lowest numbers of representation at every level. McKinsey found that only 32% of entry-level technology hardware roles are held by women and 43% of entry-level software roles. And the numbers decrease as you climb the ladder, with women representing only 17% of hardware and 30% of software roles at the SVP level.
The degree gap
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that STEM occupations have grown 79% over the past three decades and are projected to increase another 11% by 2030. However, data from the National Science Foundation shows the gender gap in STEM fields continues to persist, even at the academic level.
Women make up around 21% of those earning a bachelor’s degree in computer and information sciences, 22% in engineering and engineering technology, 35% in economics, and 39% in physical sciences. Greater disparities exist for women of color, with Black women accounting for only 9% of those earning computer science degrees, and Hispanic women representing only 8% of master’s degree recipients in these fields.
When it comes to advanced degrees, only 30% of master’s degrees in engineering and computer sciences are awarded to women, dropping to 24% for doctoral degrees, according to Society of Women Engineers. And it’ll only become more difficult to foster gender diversity in the tech industry if colleges and universities aren’t also looking at the diversity, inclusion, and equity of their STEM degree programs.
Once a diploma is earned, the real work begins, and here the numbers for women in tech are even more troubling. Only 38% of women who majored in computer science are working in the field compared to 53% of men, according to data from the National Science Foundation. This is a consistent trend dubbed a “leaky pipeline,” where it’s difficult to retain women in STEM jobs once they’ve graduated with a STEM degree.
The IT leadership gap
Women are in the minority at all of the Big Five major US tech firms, according to The World Bank. Of these high-profile tech companies, Amazon has the highest number of women employees at 45%, followed by Meta (37%), Apple (34%), Google (33%), and Microsoft (33%). Leadership numbers for these organizations are even lower, with women making up just 29%, 34%, 31%, 28%, and 26% at these organizations, respectively. Notably, none of these companies have ever had a female CEO and only around 9% of women hold positions such as CIO, CTO, IT manager, or technical team leader.
Furthermore, with many high-profile tech companies, such as Amazon, Google, and Meta, announcing rollbacks to DEI programs, there are questions around future representation and the ability to foster careers of women in tech so they can break through to the leadership and executive levels, fostering diversity at every level.
The report from IDC found that 54% of men felt it was likely they’d be promoted to executive management in their company. Meanwhile, only 25% of women said the same, noting a lack of support, self-confidence, and mentorship, as well as feeling the need to prove themselves more than men to get promoted.
McKinsey reports that women leaders are stepping away from their roles in tech to find positions that offer better flexibility and opportunity, pointing to the fact women find it harder to advance than men, and that they’re more likely to experience microaggressions or have their judgment questioned. Women leaders also reported carrying more responsibilities around supporting employee well-being and inclusion, but 40% say they go unrecognized for that work.
Black women leaders face even more barriers to leadership, with one in three report being denied or passed over for opportunities because of their race and gender. They’re also more likely to have their competence questioned by colleagues (55%), or subjected to demeaning behavior.
The work-life balance gap
Women in tech face hurdles when it comes to establishing a healthy work-life balance, often juggling more responsibilities outside work than their male peers. A 2023 study from Deloitte found women are more likely to leave their jobs citing lack of flexibility and a negative work-life balance. And 97% of respondents said they felt asking for more flexibility at work would negatively impact their chances of promotion. And even if they did ask, 95% said they believed their workload wouldn’t be adjusted accordingly, and that they’d find themselves working a full-time job in fewer hours and for less money. Overall, 46% of women said they don’t feel supported by their employers to balance their work and home lives, up from 36% in the previous 2022 study.
Mentorship gap
The tech industry has been a predominantly male industry for decades, and as a result, there’s a lack of sponsorship and mentorship for women. According to the Women in the Workplace 2023 report from McKinsey, men disproportionately benefit from mentorship and sponsorship, and they don’t struggle with having their accomplishments recognized and rewarded when working on-site in an office setting. Mentorship is an important aspect of becoming a leader, but while 58% of women say they aspire to be in leadership positions, only 39% say they feel they have a mentor who can help them achieve that goal.
Only 20% of women said they feel they’re more in the know at work, compared to 27% of men, and only 20% of women said they feel connected to their organization’s overall mission, compared to 29% of men. Similarly, only 16% of women said they get the sponsorship and mentorship they need, compared to 23% of men, and only 22% of women said they feel they get useful feedback compared to 31% of men.
Companies that want to retain women need to keep an eye on mentorship opportunities. Data from the Anita Borg Institute found that women with mentors in the tech industry were 77% more likely to still work in tech after three years when compared to women without mentors. A structured mentorship program can go a long way to fostering diversity, as research from Development Dimensions International found that organizations with a formal mentorship program are 20% more likely to have stronger diversity numbers at the leadership level.
This article was originally published on January 23, 2020, and updated on March 8, 2024.
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