Gender diversity in Tech is everybody’s business
At the start of the year, we invited a small group of Enspiral Dev Academy friends and supporters to help us shape our contribution to diversity in technology, starting with women in tech.
We gathered some folk committed to growing the diversity in technology for an initial conversation on how to take things to the next level. More specifically, we were interested in what Dev Academy can contribute to the streams of work already going on. Diversity in tech has been and is a major focus for us from the beginning and there is a some progress to celebrate. Over 55% of our students in both Auckland and Wellington are women, and nearly 50% of our Auckland students currently studying Foundations are Māori or Pasifika. Overall 48% of 2018 graduates are women or non-binary, 18% Māori and 4% Pasifika. That’s close to population parity. It’s a great step in the right direction, but there’s a lot more work to be done.
Enspiral Dev Academy does not only work with our students and the communities they represent, we also speak to employers and increasingly policy makers — giving us the opportunity to take a systems-approach to where we can make a difference. So we were interested in what our allies in the industry thought about how we could be best placed to contribute.
Folks from organisations like Whare Hauora, PwC, Flux Federation and the organiser of Global Diversity CFP Day in NZ showed up. One of the main points was to highlight what works, rather than draw energy to the people who can’t seem to see that there’s an issue.
One of the points raised was that it’d be useful to have a resource or cheat sheet that sums up the socio-economic arguments for diversity. For example, racial and ethnic diversity at the board level contributes to business advantage. In the United States, “for every 10 percent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior-executive team, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rise 0.8 percent” (McKinsey, Why Diversity Matters, January 2015). If you’ve got similar stats you’d like to contribute to this resource, please ping Gina a quick email with the link. We’ll aim to publish a first version by the end of the month.
Another point raised was the importance of mentorship. What would it look like to have a peer to peer learning programme for people in the tech industry, similar to Cultivate Lab, but in particular looking at men mentoring women? There are research reports that prove men’s confidence in applying for jobs that far surpasses women’s. So what might it look like if the men eager to contribute to diversity in technology could mentor the next generation of gender-diversity tech workforce? Or perhaps it’s about giving people the option to be mentored to by someone who does or doesn’t at all look like them? Sounds up your alley, either as a mentor or mentee or both?
Register your interest for a mentoring programme here.
Other suggestions included
- Bigger events to build critical mass, include those at the edge, include all genders in these events — make it attractive for them to join. Has anyone been to a women in tech event that was well attended by people who identify as men?
- Raise awareness around communication practises with students and industry: when organisations profile the one person from a minority background on your website to make the team more diverse, ask yourself if you are actually representing this group
- Training and skills based practise to understand the context and need for diversity, and develop their own skills and contribution to this kaupapa and learn more for those keen to learn how to be an ally, but don’t know how yet. Dev Academy’s Human Skills training offers skills based training to support this work. Get in touch with Sarrah Jayne to discuss
- Dev Academy as a facilitator or host for these events could be a great service (we do host meetups regularly, do get in touch with our space managers in Auckland (Marion) and Wellington (Mikayla)
- Code club for marginalised youth
- Bringing young people with us to tech events
- Sharing inclusive HR practices
Do any of them resonate? We’d love to hear more as we continue to increase our contribution to the issue.
Thanks to Hiria, Silvia, Colby, Emma, Libby and Lora for contributing their time and thoughts.
