Female Tech Professional Numbers On The Up

A new study has revealed that more than half (52%) of IT bosses in the UK have seen an increasing number of female tech professionals join their workforce, On Rec reports.

According to the report, conducted by IT recruitment firm Robert Half Technology, this boost was even higher in large corporations, which saw a 67% rise in their female professional numbers. Meanwhile, medium-sized companies had a 52% rise and smaller firms 38%.

Public sector organisations fared the least well in terms of their boost in female IT experts, seeing just a 42% increase compared to both private and publicly listed companies, each with a respective 59% and 55% increase.

When asked what was contributing to this upwards trajectory of women working in technology, over a third of CIOs (34%) answered that it was due to mentoring programmes; 28% named more enrolment in tech education as a contributing factor, and 17% cited government initiatives.

Another factor thought to influence the number of females entering the tech workplace was an improved visibility of successful, high-profile women in IT leadership roles, cited by 14% of UK CIOs.

Commenting on the findings, Robert Half Technology’s associate director, Charlie Grubb, said that while it was encouraging to see female IT professional numbers growing “relatively quickly”, there was still a long way to go in terms of shrinking the gender gap at CIO level, with women accounting for just one in seven of the UK’s top 100 CIO positions.

“The range of measures that businesses and the government are taking to encourage more women into a technology career would appear to be paying off, though it’s interesting to see that mentoring is the number one driver,” Grubb stated.

He underlined the effectiveness of mentoring for all types of business, as it can help to build confidence in female employees and encourage them to take on new challenges.

“Having a role model who can advise on jobs, challenging situations and day-to-day decisions can help aspiring female leaders to take the next step in their careers,” he added.