Women in IT

Women in IT

The gender gap in the IT world is deep. For decades, even centuries, women have been cut off from technology in its various forms. And there is no objective factor that shows that women are less skilled in this field. As in any area of ​​life, there will be people with greater or lesser capacities, but gender does not determine the aptitudes that will make us succeed in one area or another of study.

Despite this, according to the report Deciphering the Code , prepared by UNESCO, the socialization processes, the cultural and gender norms imposed have caused this gap that, fortunately, I can confirm that it is being overcome. Despite the many advances, according to UNESCO, women do not choose to study STEM subjects or careers ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ) because we have been educated from the stereotypes that indicate that girls have better qualities for tasks that involve care of people or social care and this fact has resulted in a "self-selection" bias that leads women to discard technical careers in favor of more humanistic ones.

At this point in history, these biases must also be transformed, as is happening, and must also do so at the same rate as the world, the forms of socialization and communication, and the working methods are doing.

Flip statistics

According to the same report I referred to earlier, globally only 35% of people who study STEM careers are women. In Spain the figures are not more positive. The latest report published by the Ministry of Universities, Data and Figures of the Spanish University System , reveals that only 3 out of 10 Engineering and Architecture students are women . It is true that in the field of Health Sciences the situation is different (70% are women), but if we focus on careers associated with the IT world, the figures have to encourage us to work every day to improve these ratios.

Another piece of information for reflection: in Spain, only 10% of Computer Science students are women . For those of us who believe in equality as the basis for the progress of societies and are passionate about technology and its advances, there is no other position than to bet on turning statistics around. And, in my opinion, it seems logical to think that a holistic response is necessary to bridge that gap that separates us from equality between men and women in the technology sector.

It is clear that the first approach that we must address is that of education, so that girls and women are attracted to STEM careers, because in them they will find the answers to the main challenges of the planet and only from there will they be able to lead the future at the same level as men.

At SEIDOR we have been working in this line for some time and that is why we have set specific objectives and defined equality policies that apply from the areas of selection to the promotion of employees, through salary policy, training, working conditions and employment, occupational health, organization of working time and work-life balance.

2 challenges and a consequence: female leadership in the IT sector

The current of transformation that we are experiencing must also be reflected in the number of women who are studying for doctorates or masters in technical sciences related to ICT, because the figures also reveal that this is where the jobs of the future will be found ; It is here, in the IT sector, where the best minds are needed to continue advancing in the development of technological solutions that make life easier for us and allow all of us, men and women, to focus on what is truly transcendental, in caring for people and the planet.