Here, Bill Morrow, CEO and founder of our upcoming Darwinian Business event sponsor, Angels Den, talks about inequality in the tech industry, not only with respect to the numbers of women entering the sector but also the City equivalent pay gap.

The Digital Stereotype

When you think of someone in the digital and technology sector, what do you imagine them to look like? A spotty gangly teenager with thicker-than-average spectacles and pallid skin from the darkened room he was holed up in until a major corporation noticed his genius and took him under their corporate wing? A strangely hairy, slightly overweight chap in his forties, still living at home with his parents, always to be seen wearing his one Iron Maiden T-shirt? Or a 20-something female entrepreneur with her finger on the pulse of the technology sector and focused on an upwardly mobile career?

Now, whether or not you recognised the first two examples, you probably would not have picked an up-and-coming female entrepreneur. The reason for this is that studies show that the gender gap in the digital sector is even wider than workforce-wide statistics would suggest.

Our Stock of Potential Female Digital Bright Stars is Seriously Restricted

Several different technology organisations have collaborated, with support from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), to gather statistics to discover how big a problem this is. They found that even though women make up approximately 45% of the UK workforce, they make up just 21% of those working in the IT sector, and the number of female entrepreneurs making it to the top of this sector is embarrassingly low.
Even more interestingly, these statistics suggest that the figures may well get worse, not better, in the near future as not enough women are being encouraged to enter the sector. Just 25% of all technology lecturers and 12% of professors in IT-related courses in higher education are women, and the percentage of female students in their classes is not much better, although these students do seem to outperform their male classmates consistently. Another set of figures show an even deeper root to the problem, with ten times more boys than girls taking computer-related topics at A level in England. Our stock of potential female entrepreneurs who could become digital sector bright stars is being restricted through a lack of interest at an early age.

The Pay Gap not only Exists in the City

We read all the time about the pay gap in the City between male and female workers, but this exists in the digital sector too, with women aged 16 to 29 years of age being paid on average 14% less, and those aged 40 to 49 being paid 30% less, than their male counterparts. This is not exactly the sort of news that is going to encourage floods of new female entrepreneurs into the digital market.

Serious changes need to be made if this gap is to be closed, and many female groups have started to find their voices to complain about these inequalities and to demand that the IT professional stereotype of a white male in his 40s suppressing the careers of the female hopefuls around him be challenged.

Could Demanding Equality Deepen the Problem?

Feminism has achieved some glorious victories for equality and the betterment of women’s lives across the globe, but the question I would put to you is:

'can demanding equality through bringing to light the perceived failings within the digital sector encourage change or discourage those women considering entering the profession and therefore deepen the problem?'

There is no doubt in my mind that the digital sector is one that could benefit greatly from more female entrepreneurs within its numbers, and I believe strongly in equal pay for jobs with equal responsibilities and pressures. However, my take on the statistics noted above is that we need to focus a greater effort on encouraging young women to enter the digital sector and to take computer-related subjects at school rather than attacking this economically important industry in such a way as to scare off those it should be enticing.

It's Time to Change the Perception of the Industry

The story the statistics tell of the numbers of women in IT-related education and female entrepreneurs within IT professions shows that something has gone awry with the way the digital sector is portraying itself to the young.

We need to change its image in the eyes of its potential future employees from an early age, to encourage a greater balance of men and women looking to enter technology professions.

I feel that it is time to challenge the perception women have of the sector, to encourage them to want to learn about, enter and progress through its ranks, and eventually to become leaders and decision makers in it themselves. Once this fundamental cause of gender inequality in the digital sector has been checked it may then be time to address the other areas of inequality that cause so much passion and discourse.