Technology is the next big thing. It has been for years. From AI to automation and machine learning to virtual reality, the technology industry is growing and evolving massively.
Demand is extensive in the tech industry. Most new jobs will be technology based and demand is expected to be higher in this area than others. Studies even indicate that employers will find it hard to find suitable workers to fill new technology based jobs.
Women have the ability to be tech experts just as men
Women have the ability to be tech experts just as men. “Women have played a key role in the advancement of technology and computer science since its creation,” says techtarget article Women in tech statistics: The latest research and trends. All around the world, in both developed and developing nations, women hold tech and engineering occupations. Not just younger women but older women as well. During one of the author’s travels, she was surprised to meet a lady from Iraq working as a computer programmer in a Western country who was in her late fifties at the time.
In fact, women from developing nations like India, Pakistan and Iraq, are more into science and engineering than in Western nations. This is because in those countries, families focus on science subjects and push their children into medicine and engineering. On the other hand, in Western countries there is the incorrect stereotype that women are not capable of studying STEM subjects.
This wrong assumption prevents women from entering science and technology occupations in the more advanced countries. In the United States, only 20% of tech jobs are held by women (smallbiztrends). In the United Kingdom, just 17% of IT specialists were women and the number of women in the tech sector had barely moved over the past 10 years (The Guardian). This is strange because 74% of female teens express interest in STEM topics (dataprot).
The data shows that it is upbringing that hinders women from going into science, math, engineering and technology occupations rather than nature. Since long, women have proven their proficiency with scientific content in fields like biology and medicine and women generally earn higher grades than men in math and science in high school (National Academy of Sciences).
The key to opportunities is going after trending and in-demand industries
Many women miss out on these opportunities because they don’t take advantage of fast growing industries like tech despite having both an interest and the ability to learn them.
The key to opportunities is going after trending and in-demand industries such as technology, engineering, artificial intelligence, cyber security, blockchain and space exploration.
Information Technology is one of the fastest growing industries with new segments appearing continually. New technologies will lead to tens of millions of job vacancies by 2030 (ZDNet).
Many women miss out on these opportunities because they don’t take advantage of fast growing industries like tech despite having both an interest and the ability to learn them. As the demand for technology and engineering experts increases, the opportunities are in this area. For these reasons women need to overcome the cultural biases and stereotypes and start learning these interesting and easy to master subjects so that women can both take advantage of the entrepreneurial and professional opportunities that will come with the growth this industry is seeing as well as fill the demand gap.
Here are some things society can do to encourage girls and women to open up to technology and other STEM occupations and normalize technology for women:
1. People need to accept that women have the capability to learn technology and engineering just as men. Media can play a role in this.
2. Let women and girls know they have the capability to master technology and engineering.
3. During communication, focus on STEM subjects’ interestingness rather than difficulty.
4. Encourage a culture of love for technology.
5. Have role models in the STEM space that women and girls can look up to.
“Women need to overcome the cultural biases and stereotypes and start learning these interesting and easy to master subjects so that women can both take advantage of the entrepreneurial and professional opportunities that will come with the growth this industry is seeing as well as fill the demand gap.”
