The Male-Dominated Tech Field: Challenges Faced by Women
Women in the tech industry are faced with many challenges, from the lack of good mentors across various fields due to the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions to gender bias, gender pay gap, lack of sponsorship, stereotypes, imposter syndrome, work-life balance, and sexual harassment, to mention a few.
According to a report from Accenture, the ratio of women to men in tech roles has declined in the past 35 years, with half of the women who go into tech dropping out by the age of 35; another report from them also shows that only 25% of tech graduates are women, and there's a 37% dropout rate for tech classes, exceeding the 30% dropout rate for other programs.
Despite the urge to promote inclusivity, women still find it difficult to progress or even get involved in the tech space for many reasons, some of which I stated earlier.
I spoke with a few women about how the tech industry has been for them.
Ezinne Kalu, a Cybersecurity engineer, said everybody is always shocked by what she does.
“It's frustrating how people usually assume I'm a man when I share my work on social media. Some men even reach out to me asking for internships, but then they start flirting with me and saying they want to marry someone like me. My friend and I go through this often. Additionally, it's hard to find good mentors in the tech industry, especially because most of the top people in the tech space are men. Now that women are attempting to break into certain fields, some potential mentors refuse to mentor us simply because of our gender or because they are married and do not want to give the impression of impropriety. On the other hand, some male mentors express interest in mentoring us just for ulterior motives".
I had a conversation with Amina, an aspiring Cybersecurity engineer. She shared with me that learning about technology has been overwhelming for her. As a newbie in the tech industry, she finds it difficult to navigate it independently since nobody around her is in the tech space. Amina is trying to connect with other women in the same space to get some guidance and support.
Her major challenge is getting a laptop, so she is currently researching and looking for free courses or other resources to help her. Amina advises women who want to enter the tech industry to pursue their dreams and not be discouraged by the fact that it is male-dominated. She believes that men should start accepting that women are here to stay, with their own opinions, goals, and aspirations. She acknowledges that there may be challenges but encourages women to persevere and work hard to achieve their goals.
Nonye Azubuike, a data analyst and writer believes that as a woman, constantly trying to prove oneself while male colleagues relax can be exhausting and lead to imposter syndrome.
Nonye explains, "I used to work in a bank before moving into tech and I discovered that both industries share a similar problem, which is the gender stereotyping of women. Many women enter the tech industry hoping that techies will be more open-minded and progressive than other industries, but that is far from the truth. Men believe women cannot handle the heavy lifting and cannot work as hard as them”.
Nonye also points out that during her time working in the bank, everyone assumed she was a marketer; likewise, in the tech industry, people often ask if she is a writer or a designer because women are usually expected to take these two career paths as they are considered less stressful.
“Another quite unfortunate thing is that even after women have overcome the challenge of learning a tech skill, they still sometimes face obstacles in their career paths.
There have been instances where women have developed themselves to become badass developers but have not been given the opportunity to work in that role. Instead, they are offered positions like product managers simply because they are women. This is both unfair and frustrating.
Let’s not even talk about how women in tech are often told that they cannot balance marriage and childbearing with a tech career due to societal expectations.”
She concluded by saying men often feel like they can do women’s jobs better than them; she shared a personal experience where a man questioned her competence as a data analyst and claimed that men are inherently more efficient and intelligent in mathematical tasks. This anecdote emphasises the common belief among men that they can outperform women in their professional roles.
"Women in tech are downplayed a lot in the tech industry, and people often believe that women's success is linked to the fact that they are women and not because they worked hard for it. My advice to women who want to join the tech industry is to take advantage of every opportunity given to them and reach out more to people for mentorship," Mercy, a front-end developer, told me.
I believe it is time to change these outdated beliefs to create an inclusive and diverse space for women.