International Women’s Day took place on Friday 8th March, but its halo glow continues to cast a light on issues around gender equality in the workplace.
While huge strides have been made in balancing gender equality in recent decades, more needs to be done, according to the government.
In its Gender Equality at Every Stage roadmap, it outlines that in the UK, “Despite doing better in education; women are over three times more likely to work part time; are less likely to progress in work; generally work in lower paying industries and occupations, and have lower pension wealth.”
Doing this work pays off, because if gender gaps are reduced in labour market participation, science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) qualifications and wages, this could increase the size of the UK economy by around 2 per cent ––or £55 billion––by 2030.
It is not, however, always so easy to be a woman in a male-dominated industry. In the UK,
under 30 per cent of the fintech workforce is made up of women, and women hold only 17 per cent of senior fintech roles, for example.
Things are a bit better on UK financial services boards, which lead in Europe on their appointment of female board members, according to EY.
Across the wider tech industry, gender equality is also an issue. This begins early, especially for girls who want to pursue tech or STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers.
According to Women in Tech, the gap between boys and girls noticeably widens after GCSE level, with 80 per cent of boys pursuing STEM subjects, compared to 35 per cent of girls.
At university level, only 25 per cent of graduates in STEM subjects are women, compared to 52 per cent of men.
Those inequalities knock on into adult life, where only 24 per cent of the STEM workforce are women, and 79 per cent report a gender pay gap.
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Kirsty Carotti is a software engineer at the regulatory technology firm REGnosys. Additionally, she is the vice-chair of the WISE young professional board, a social enterprise which aims to achieve gender equality within industry and raise awareness of STEM subjects and careers amongst younger women through championing role models.
If you can see it, you can be it, which is why role models matter so much to women. For Carotti, it was her family background that helped her to move past traditional barriers early on.
“I was fortunate enough to have strong role models in STEM with both my parents working in the technology industry,” she says.
“Growing up I was fascinated with how computers work and went on to study computing at secondary school and later in college. This is where I first saw the gender disparity in STEM, as I was the only girl in my class.”
Carotti is a believer in providing encouragement. “Young minds can be highly impressionable, so any passing comment can have a potentially profound effect on a child’s future.”
She also believes that women and girls need to be given positive reinforcement. “There is a huge stigma that STEM subjects are not creative, when in fact it’s the complete opposite. This results in young people who are told they are not strong in sciences, or that they have a ‘creative mind’, if they don’t have the skillset for a career in STEM, which is a misguided idea.”
But why does this matter? Ultimately, diversity and equality are not only the right things to do, but for business leaders, they positively affect outcomes.
“A room full of diverse individuals from different cultures, races, and genders are more likely to approach a problem with varied perspectives, offering a more informed and holistic solution,” Carotti says.
As for finding a solution to the issue, Carotti knows it is a complex problem with many different facets. She says that making STEM fun and accessible at school is the most important thing, and accessibility matters too.
“We need to ensure that the availability of resources is more level across different school districts.”
The government also needs to step up. “There is also an onus on the government to update policies including equalising maternity and paternity leave to reduce the pressure for one person to take up the primary caring responsibilities. Companies are already implementing policies with much success, so a push for legal reform is needed.”
If you’re looking for a new role at a company with female and family-friendly policies, then The London Economic Job Board should be your first port of call. It contains thousands of open roles across the country, which are constantly updated.
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