Challenges for Women engaging in Tech

The second meetup of Women in Tech, Scotland took a world cafe style format. This format features presentations to spark small group discussions on challenging questions.

The topics discussed and key points noted were:

What are the barriers for women returners and what would help them get back into work?

• Internal barriers; lack of confidence and self value;
• Promote business benefits of flexible working to support a more productive workforce;
• Consider providing back to work support and counselling;
• Getting a balance between corporate priorities and work-life balance;
• Need for up-skilling due to pace of change;
• Exposure to role models;

How can we support women with children to engage in events like this to network, learn and build professional contacts while managing childcare?

• Timings — lunchtime or breakfast events might be better;
• Family friendly events;
• Consider providing creches at events;
• Streaming events or recording;
• Shorter sessions are easier to organise around work and childcare;

Women progressing to senior roles — is there a glass ceiling and how do we break through this?

• Unconscious bias. “People promote people like them”;
• Contesting the old boys network. Can feel excluded from certain networking events e.g. football related;
• Ageism;
• Breaking stereotypes. Female assertiveness can be viewed negatively, unlike male assertiveness;
• Provide mentors for females to help challenge the norm and build confidence;

What barriers have women encountered as they progress in their career and how could these be overcome?

• Unconscious bias;
• Lack of promotion;
• Networking events that have been male dominated. Personal interests may not be the same across genders;
• Need to move out of comfort zone;
• Lack of confidence when applying for jobs / roles;
• Feeling of guilt — family commitments;
• Society expectations of traditional women’s roles;
• Skills gap as a result of career breaks and lack of personal time to invest;
• Stigma of flexible working — “if you’re not there you don’t care”;

The group discussions were followed by collective sharing of thoughts and suggested actions, which included looking at support provided by organisations such as Equate Scotland, who address many of the issues raised.

Thank you to FDM Group for hosting this meetup and providing refreshments for network members in their Glasgow city centre offices.