K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
In the professional world, we’ve taken some laudable steps on the path to gender parity — but there’s still an awful lot of work to be done. This is true especially in the technology sector; a realm in which women remain woefully underrepresented with recruitment structures skewed heavily towards their male counterparts.
The proportion of women in tech remains staggeringly low. A recent study found females to make up just 16 percent of IT professionals, a figure that has scarcely risen over the last ten years. This cannot be explained away by a dearth of youthful, academic talent: when it comes to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects (STEM), research indicates that boys and girls study in equal numbers, with the latter typically achieving higher grades.
The problem isn’t one of pipeline potential; it’s about entrenched employment inequality and workplace discrimination. It’s in the offices and interview rooms that gender bias manifests — and there it must be rooted out. I believe this can be done, but only if companies commit to some significant changes. 1) Introduce blind CVs
The recruitment process is riddled with gender discrimination — that’s a depressing thing to say in 2021, but it’s a reality we can’t ignore.
Much of this bias is unconscious, a consequence of deep-seated societal prejudices that seep into the professional sphere, contaminating company cultures and tainting how new talent is taken on.
Studies bear this out. Women are on average 30 percent less likely to be contacted for a job interview than men with comparable qualifications and experience, a recent piece of research suggests. Even the science profession — known for its unsentimental objectivity — is plagued by discrimination, Yale researchers have found.
When women are selected for a role, they’re often offered a smaller salary than male colleagues. That's the conclusion reached by tech industry recruitment site Hired, whose most recent report on wage inequality suggests the gender pay gap widened 3 percent between 2019 and 2020.
The answer? Blind CVs. If a hiring manager can’t tell an applicant’s gender, they can’t be prejudiced — unconsciously or otherwise — against them. Indeed, with anonymity preventing female candidates from falling at the first hurdle, research suggests they’re up to 46 percent more likely to be hired.
2) Set gender targets
It’s heartening when a tech company commits itself to gender parity — but without concrete, measurable goals, they’re unlikely ever to get there.
That’s why employers should spell out clear, incremental gender inclusivity targets. Measures to reach these targets can take a number of shapes: robust onboarding processes, reverse mentoring, external coaching, assessments that unlock sponsorship programs for high-performers to accelerate to senior leadership positions.
However, these alone are not enough. Organizations must assign a certain proportion of C-suite and top-tier executive roles to women. Additionally, they should set quarterly and annual success targets pegged not only to financial performance, but gender parity progress as well.
Continue reading: https://www.itproportal.com/features/how-can-firms-shatter-the-glass-ceiling-when-it-comes-to-achieving-gender-parity/
The proportion of women in tech remains staggeringly low. A recent study found females to make up just 16 percent of IT professionals, a figure that has scarcely risen over the last ten years. This cannot be explained away by a dearth of youthful, academic talent: when it comes to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects (STEM), research indicates that boys and girls study in equal numbers, with the latter typically achieving higher grades.
The problem isn’t one of pipeline potential; it’s about entrenched employment inequality and workplace discrimination. It’s in the offices and interview rooms that gender bias manifests — and there it must be rooted out. I believe this can be done, but only if companies commit to some significant changes. 1) Introduce blind CVs
The recruitment process is riddled with gender discrimination — that’s a depressing thing to say in 2021, but it’s a reality we can’t ignore.
Much of this bias is unconscious, a consequence of deep-seated societal prejudices that seep into the professional sphere, contaminating company cultures and tainting how new talent is taken on.
Studies bear this out. Women are on average 30 percent less likely to be contacted for a job interview than men with comparable qualifications and experience, a recent piece of research suggests. Even the science profession — known for its unsentimental objectivity — is plagued by discrimination, Yale researchers have found.
When women are selected for a role, they’re often offered a smaller salary than male colleagues. That's the conclusion reached by tech industry recruitment site Hired, whose most recent report on wage inequality suggests the gender pay gap widened 3 percent between 2019 and 2020.
The answer? Blind CVs. If a hiring manager can’t tell an applicant’s gender, they can’t be prejudiced — unconsciously or otherwise — against them. Indeed, with anonymity preventing female candidates from falling at the first hurdle, research suggests they’re up to 46 percent more likely to be hired.
2) Set gender targets
It’s heartening when a tech company commits itself to gender parity — but without concrete, measurable goals, they’re unlikely ever to get there.
That’s why employers should spell out clear, incremental gender inclusivity targets. Measures to reach these targets can take a number of shapes: robust onboarding processes, reverse mentoring, external coaching, assessments that unlock sponsorship programs for high-performers to accelerate to senior leadership positions.
However, these alone are not enough. Organizations must assign a certain proportion of C-suite and top-tier executive roles to women. Additionally, they should set quarterly and annual success targets pegged not only to financial performance, but gender parity progress as well.
Continue reading: https://www.itproportal.com/features/how-can-firms-shatter-the-glass-ceiling-when-it-comes-to-achieving-gender-parity/
