Imagine losing £3000 of your salary every single year.
The Sad Reality
For women in the tech industry, this is a real-world, real-life problem - with current gender wage gaps sitting heavy at 4%.
Whilst this is almost half the UK national average of 7.4%, for women who hold the same qualifications and training as their counterparts… this is still too much.
According to a Hired survey, that’s not all. There are additional negatives for women in the workplace including being “expected to do menial and secretarial tasks not associated with my role”. Unconscious (and perhaps even active) bias means that 50% of women abandon their technology careers by the age of 35.
Exploring The Problem
It’s clear from the data that women working in technology have a disadvantage from the get-go.
The average salary offered to women starting a new job in tech is £63,000 - compared to £66,000 for the men.
In 2017, new regulations were introduced requiring medium-sized companies with more than 250 employees to publicly report on any gender pay gaps in their workforce.
When following the new laws one company, TechData, discovered a median pay gap of 18.7% - compared to the (then) national average of 18.4% - a number that you would hope has changed in the last few years, but their latest report showed an increase in pay gap to 20.2% as a result of “more men occupying senior and therefore higher-paid roles.”
According to a 2019 survey, women are still earning up to 28% less than their male colleagues in the same roles.
The Motherhood Penalty
As with many gender pay gaps across the country, there might be a point to be argued about the “motherhood penalty”. Young women are less likely to be considered for a promotion/land a higher paying job because of the perceived disability of them having to balance their commitment to their career and children.
Similarly, women who may be in line for a promotion but have to take time off for family means they “fall behind” in progressing their career, perhaps explaining the dominant presence (77%) of men in executive and managerial roles in the tech industry.
Unconscious Bias
Just 16% of female students are encouraged to study STEM subjects, compared to 33% of males. The problem in the tech industry starts from a young age, encouraging unconscious bias. Currently, just 19% of the tech workforce are women and this needs to change before the gender pay gap can be completely closed.
In 2021, 200 international women in IT started a campaign called “We Are No Aliens!”, an insight into how women are treated in offices and out in the field across the world. Normalising women working in tech will help reduce unconscious bias from men in managerial or HR roles offering starting salaries.
Lack of Role Models and Mentors
One of the main reasons women struggle to have progressive careers in tech is “due to the lack of role-models in the sector.” There’s a gender stereotype of boys traditionally being better at science and maths and women as a minority means that they can’t open doors and help more women in the industry - so the final 4% difference in gender pay remains entirely out of reach.
Have The Regulations Helped?
Here are four examples of tech companies that have been made to publish gender pay gap reports yearly.
As you can see - the median difference in pay is scary.
As of this year, women at IET were earning 27p less per hour than men. Women at Tetra Tech were earning 64p less, and only 1% of their highest-paid jobs (such as management) are occupied by women.
Whilst the regulations are helping companies be more conscious and aware of their gender gap bias - are they really being pushed to make a difference? Actions are being taken against companies who don’t publish their reports, but companies who stick to the rules face no pressure to reduce the pay gap.
Historically, social pressure from customers is the main driver behind ethical business decisions. In the tech industry, where a lot of diversity issues are relatively “behind the scenes” and buried deep - not enough people know about the problem brewing right under their noses.
Tech Gender Pay Gap: An Ongoing Issue?
In short: yes.
The regulations were designed to help reduce gender pay gaps, and whilst the national average is reducing - there are still big-name players like Microsoft who have a clear disparity between male and female counterparts in their workforces.
Black, Asian and LGTBQ+ women suffer even more from the current state of tech gender pay gaps, and technology businesses need to take strong actions in order to reduce the disparity in their industries.
How Diverse Recruiter Teams Can Help
Diverse recruiter teams are an essential part of driving change in the tech industry.
How?
Through eliminating unconscious bias, and putting experienced (female) recruiters in charge of hiring for your executive and leadership roles rather than letting the management team “handle it” can help improve opportunities for women in tech.
nufuture is an IT & Tech recruitment specialist dedicated to delivering tangible value to everyone we work with. Connect with a member of our team today to find out what we can do for you. Give us a call on 01344 289224 or email info@nufuture.co.uk.