Article

Alfred Ajani
Alfred Ajani 20 January 2015

The Growing Population of Women in Digital

What can SMEs learn from leading tech firms' initiatives to encourage more women working in digital?

52% of gamers are women, but the industry doesn't know it! The number of female CIOs has remained at 14% for at least a decade. Intel wants to lead by example and have promised $300M to boost the representation of women and minorities working in technical roles.

Getting women to lead within the technology industry is on the forefront of most multinational organisation's agenda. In 2014 L'Oreal held 'Women in Digital Next Generation Awards' recognising women who have managed to get ahead in a typical male world.

  • Cynthia Breazeal - Founder & CEO, Jibo, an electronics company that is creating the world's first social robot for the home.
  • Tania Yuki - Founder & CEO, Shareablee, which measures the world's social interactions with brands.
  • Victoria Eisner - Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder, GLAMSQUAD, an on-demand beauty delivery app that sends high quality, professionally trained hair stylists and makeup artists to your home or office.

But what can what can smaller companies learn from the world's most well-known technology companies? At Google, Apple, Yahoo and Facebook, females account for fewer than one in five tech jobs. While research shows that companies with more diverse teams tend to perform better financially.



I would like to assume job adverts are gender friendly, but what about the interview process? Or even appraisal meetings? Are there any staff retention tactics that have been put in place by these well-known companies? It's been rumoured that Google managers are trained to be more aware of hidden biases so they are less inclined to give lower performance evaluations to women. Facebook have been accumulating more and more social media brands and with this they have been working with professional associations to get more females interested in science and technology. This follows recent findings of declines in female attendance to technological and digital courses at universities.

More recently, Rihanna became the creative director for Puma. This shows a gender and cultural shift within a well-established industry.

Like Elizabeth Varley Co-Founder and CEO of Tech-Hub, do you have what it takes to grow in the industry and have a valued opinion? Liz is involved in the digital and content sectors and speaks at industry events to encourage a female presence within the industry. She has sat on the London College of Communication's Digital Media Advisory Forum and judged on the Association of Online Publishers Awards.

These women were also published in Vogue as leading business CEO's:

  • Kathryn Parson - Decoded
  • Renate Nyborg - Mobile Consultancy
  • Divinia Knowles - Mind Candy
  • Nina Faulhaber - Ecstase

With schemes put in place from professional associations and non-profit association I have no doubt there will be a dramatic rise in women coming into the sector this year. I also see women winning more and more prestigious awards to highlight and crown their involvement in the industry. Hopefully women do not have to continuously create Award ceremonies that only cater to women in the industry and are recognised amongst the men in the industry.

The Digital Recruitment Company is in the early preparation stage of creating a panel of guest speakers for a series of Vlogs focusing on Women in Digital and Tech. We want women working in digital to share the culture of your work place, your predictions on the industry and where you think it is heading. We want to know the role you play within your company and how you have made it your own through the time you have been there. Your ambitions can spark a movement as the world undergoes a digital transformation.

This post first appeared here.

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