ISACA: How to Address Tech's Gender Imbalance
Tech plays a big part in problem-solving across industries, but it still has its own problems to tackle. Women only hold about 26.7% of tech-related jobs, despite making up 50% of the population.
This issue needs addressing not just for the sake of ethics and inclusion, but also for innovation and development.
Tech companies worldwide are recognising the ongoing gender imbalance struggle, supporting studies to highlight the issue and actions required to address it.
A 2024 study by SAP, titled More Women in Tech: Industry Fuels Trend to a New Innovation Culture, shows the emergence of new technology roles that extend beyond conventional programming to fields like data science, prompt engineering, ethics expertise and user experience design.
Nonetheless, SAP cautioned about AI's potential to perpetuate existing gender biases as training data for AI systems often mirror societal imbalances.
“AI inherits bias from the humans who programme it, who, more often than not, are white men”, as Eva Zauke, Global Head of SAP Enterprise Adoption pointed out.
Further highlighting gender issues in tech, ISACA's 2024 'Tech Workplace and Culture' report uncovers a significant disconnect between industry acknowledgment of gender disparities and actionable changes.
The barriers women face in tech
The ISACA study pinpointed several factors contributing to gender imbalance in tech roles.
While the industry largely recognises the gender gap as critical, only 41% of organisations have definite plans to boost female hiring.
This gap between recognition and significant action underlines the broader issue, especially since diverse teams are known to enhance innovation, improve problem-solving capacities and strengthen financial outcomes.
- 87% of IT professionals agree that there is a lack of gender diversity in the sector, yet only 41% of businesses have programmes in place to hire more women
- 43% of women respondents (and 21% of men) say the lack of representation of women in tech roles is because most IT role models and leaders are male
- 42% of women respondents said this is because of pay inequality, compared to 15% of men who responded
A striking 43% of female respondents viewed the predominance of male role models and leaders in IT as a major barrier, a sentiment echoed by 21% of male participants.
Furthermore, pay inequality is another significant concern, with 42% of women seeing it as an obstacle, compared to only 15% of men. This disparity in views highlights the urgent need for increased awareness and direct action against gender pay gaps in the sector.
Differences were also noted in how men and women perceive their roles' authority. Men generally rated their sense of authority higher across various areas, with notable gaps in making purchasing decisions and contributing to company strategy.
How to close the gender gap
ISACA emphasises the role educational institutions play in promoting gender inclusion in tech.
Survey participants suggested strategies such as providing mentors or role models for women (52%), setting up tech clubs and networking organisations for females (42%) and increasing the number of female tech professors (31%).
Julia Kanouse, Chief Membership Officer at ISACA, emphasises the importance of increasing “the representation of women in the IT and technology sector” and what “needs to be done to welcome their leadership and influence.”
"This will not only help to address the global skills gap and boost productivity in the sector – it will also create a more inclusive and diverse working environment.”
Career satisfaction in tech
Despite challenges, some positive trends emerge in the study concerning career satisfaction and progression in tech.
Approximately 68% of women and 72% of men reported high levels of satisfaction with their career progression.
More encouragingly, 73% of women and 71% of men have experienced a salary increase or promotion in the past two years, reflecting some progress in career development regardless of the persistent challenges and underrepresentation in the sector.
Currently, women hold about 26.7% of tech-related jobs, a percentage that has seen a slight decline over the past two years.
The situation differs significantly globally. Nordic countries, for example, show higher rates of female participation in tech roles compared to others grappling with cultural and structural issues.
Despite these geographical variations, the fundamental challenges remain consistent worldwide, necessitating coordinated global solutions to these systemic issues.
Sarah Orton, UK and Europe lead for ISACA's SheLeadsTech initiative, says on the findings: “Having a workforce of people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to bring to the table is not only the right thing to do – it's also a business imperative that makes an organisation more innovative and its work that much more efficient and effective.”
However, Sarah also highlights the progression that has been made: “Encouragingly, women have near-equal career progression satisfaction to their male counterparts and are slightly more likely to have received a raise or a promotion in the last two years.
“Progress has been made – but the sector has more work to do, and ISACA is supporting this important work.”
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