A study by The Fawcett Society charity and telecoms biz Virgin Media O2 has found that almost one in five men in IT believe that women are naturally less well suited to tech roles than men. This is despite the fact that women have played a vital role in the tech industry since its early days.
The study also found that 72 percent of women in tech have experienced at least one form of sexism at work, and that more than 40 percent of women in the sector have thought about leaving their role at least once a week due to a “tech bro” work culture.
In addition to sexism, women in tech are also paid less than their male counterparts. In the U.K., for example, women in tech are paid 26 percent less than their male counterparts. This is one of the worst industry pay gaps in Europe.
Despite these challenges, there are many successful women in tech. Stephanie “Steve” Shirley, for example, founded Freelance Programmers in the 1950s after being denied a promotion. Freelance Programmers later became Xansa, which was sold to Steria for £472 million in 2007. Another example is Ann Moffatt, who coded the black box recorder for the Anglo-French supersonic passenger jet Concorde and went on to become technical director of Xansa, leading more than 300 programmers.
The sources for this piece include an article in TheRegister.
