Women's Careers in the Technology Industry 2011 Report

At the end of 2010, Intellect's Women in IT Forum and womenintechnology.co.uk teamed up to undertake a survey about the thoughts and opinions of women working in the technology profession. We first ran this survey in 2007 and were really keen to find out if anything had changed or improved since then.

Unfortunately, it seems that the tech industry has failed to remove the glass ceiling. A long hours and macho culture still exists. Whilst the technology sector rated highly in the provision of progressive employment policies and facilities, the survey revealed a fear amongst women that taking up the options of part time or flexible working would be detrimental to their careers as highlighted by one respondent who said:

“The company offers some flexibility but women taking up options of part time and flex type working undoubtedly suffer in the promotion stakes. They simply don’t get recognition.” 

Worringly, over 60% of respondents have over a decade of experience and yet only just over a quarter ( 26%) have reached senior management level with many feeling that they are being passed over for promotion in favour of male colleagues. In fact over a third of respondents said they had left their last position due to a lack of internal promotion.

Findings from the new survey also concluded that HR rates poorly in supporting women in the IT sector. Only 36% rated HR departments as good or excellent – 3% down from the 2007 figure. This compares poorly with other groups such as line management (47%); direct boss (55%); colleagues (60%) and juniors (47%). Worryingly, over a quarter of respondents (27%) rated HR departments’ support as ‘poor’ or non-existent.

Commenting on the results, Maggie Berry, Managing Director of Women in Technology said:

“Breaking the glass ceiling is not about promoting gender equality for its own sake. There is an absolute business case – women are not a minority in a highly qualified tech talent pool and research from McKinsey & Co in 2007 clearly showed that organisations with strong female representation at top management and board level perform better than those without. It’s disappointing to still be having to have this debate in 2011!”

A big thank you to the 568 respondents for their contribution. All findings have been collated and are available to download in an official report - click the link below.

Women's_Careers_in_the_Technology_Industry_2011_Report.pdf

If you have any questions about the survey please contact Maggie Berry, MD, womenintechnology.co.uk or Theodora Kalessi, Programme Executive, Intellect.