How can we encourage young women to pursue careers in technology?
Tech inclusion is not just about gender diversity. It’s also about correcting the endemic exclusion of talent from BAME communities. Covid-19 has thwarted what little progress has been made prior to increase diversity in tech.
“31% of underrepresented founders found it harder to fundraise; that number has jumped by an extra 31% this year with 62% finding it more challenging to raise venture capital on average.” - State of European Tech 2020
What’s worse is that awareness and empathy seem to have diminished, as well.
“While 41% of men respondents believe that equal opportunity is available to all, only 19% of women respondents share the same sentiment. Most notably, however, 77% of Black/African/Caribbean participants disagreed to this statement.” - State of European Tech 2020
As a women founder in a CTO role, I fall through the cracks in a statistic. Less than 20% of all senior management are women. Less than 1% of CTOs are women.
“This is not a trend that is changing either. For the past three years, the share of CTOs has been at stagnating at a mere 1% and this is not by lack of talent in the ecosystem. The system needs fixing at every layer and as much as investors have work to do on rebalancing capital allocation, the founders of tomorrow also need guidance and support on assembling a more diverse team.” - State of European Tech 2020
Sadly, the bias against women extends towards mixed teams as well. This makes it harder for folks who genuinely look to give women opportunities to join their teams, to do so without putting themselves at risk.
“The difference between men-only teams and mixed/women-only teams continues to be huge. Men-only teams captured 91% of all capital raised and 85% of all rounds in 2020.” - State of European Tech 2020
Women and folks from underrepresented backgrounds need sponsorship and opportunities. Not just mentoring, coaching and sympathy. Real opportunities:
- Equal access to social and monetary capital
- Unrestricted leadership pathways
- Better recruitment sourcing
- Removing interview barriers and biases
- Competitive and fair pay
- Diversity-friendly benefits.
“As well as attracting more women into tech roles, companies also need to work harder at retaining female tech talent. According to Forbes, once women enter the tech field, they leave at a 45 per cent higher rate than men. A report conducted by Indeed found that the most common reason for this is due to a lack of career growth, followed closely by poor management and slow salary growth. The report also found that only half of the women surveyed believed that they have the same opportunities to enter senior leadership roles as their male counterparts.” - Stem Women UK, 2020
The ATI Boeing Accelerator has offered me the chance to mentor early-stage startups with the knowledge and experience I have, as a CTO-in-residence.
Did I think I was good enough when I asked them for this opportunity? Of course not. I will never be good enough, by my own standards. And that’s a problem with diverse people in tech. We’re not confident enough that we are worthy to pursue the opportunities we seek. We keep comparing ourselves with the more privileged and find ourselves lacking.
Yet we don’t realise that we’re there with them, at the start line of a new job or a new opportunity. Except that we’re rising from difficult backgrounds, we’re carers for our elderly and young, we’re mothers and household mini-CEOs.
I was fortunate that the leadership of the accelerator has excellent women who know it’s important to help each other.
So, I think the solution has to come from us as much as from the tech sector and the society in general.
When I asked for a male sponsor in the past, I was turned down because “give first doesn’t mean give for everyone”. But I choose to view that as just an unfortunate circumstance to have asked the wrong person. Not that I won’t keep asking, again and again!
I like how Stacey Abrams, among other accomplishments, a black woman tech entrepreneur, explains it in her elating TED talk:
“We’re too often told that our mistakes are ours alone, but victory is a shared benefit. And so what I tell you to do is understand your mistakes, but understand the mistakes of others. And be clearheaded about it. And be honest with yourself and honest with those who support you.
And I know that the questions I have to ask myself are: One, am I honest about the scope of my ambition? Because it’s easy to figure out that once you didn’t get what you wanted, then maybe you should have set your sights a little lower, but I’m here to tell you to be aggressive about your ambition. Do not allow setbacks to set you back.
I know we have to have women who speak for the voiceless. I know we have to have people of good conscience who stand up against oppression. I know we have to have people who understand that social justice belongs to us all. And that wakes me up every morning, and that makes me fight even harder. Because I am moving forward, knowing what is in my past.” - Stacey Adams, 3 questions to ask yourself about everything you do
Evelina Vrabie is one of the ATI Boeing Accelerator’s mentors, working with our portfolio as CTOiR. She is a technical founder, manager, and engineer with fourteen years of experience in technology startups.
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For more information about the programme, please contact the ATI Boeing Accelerator team:
Gabi Matic — gm@atiboeingaccelerator.com |linkedin.com/in/gabrielamatic
Wil Benton — wb@atiboeingaccelerator.com |linkedin.com/in/fatkidonfire
Ksenia Kurileva — kk@atiboeingaccelerator.com | linkedin.com/in/kseniakurileva
