Tech companies are notorious for being run by white men. The proportion of women on supervisory boards is notoriously low – if there is ever a woman on the board. This has an impact on profitability: McKinsey, for example, found in one study found that a company is 15 percent more likely to be profitable if at least one woman sits on its board of directors.
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So while companies would have to scramble to increase their proportion of women, the tech jobs are apparently attractive to the female half of the population: flexible working hours, no heavy physical strain like nursing, good pay. A high level of education is often a prerequisite, but women cut the list school degrees on average better than the men anyway. So what’s the problem with the issue of gender diversity?
In practice, the question is surprisingly difficult to answer. A predominantly male team can act as a deterrent to female applicants. Discriminatory structures are often maintained unconsciously and without malicious intent over generations. Prejudices remain cemented in place because the proportion of women remains below the critical level that could call normal but discriminatory behavior into question. Women are also affected by the prejudices and do not even consider technical courses and jobs or unnecessarily do not have the confidence to do so.
The complex question calls for new approaches, and c’t uplink is also pursuing them: as an exception, aviation engineer Ann-Kathrin Dragesser and computer scientist Sarah Kron enrich the discussion as external guests. Many will consider them the moderators of the YouTube channel “So many tabs“, with which they wanted to get women interested in technology topics in particular. From the c’t editorial team, moderator Pina Merkert got support from Liane Dubowy, who not only knows technology journalism very well, but also the gaming scene. Together they discuss what the problem is, where companies can improve and where women in technology should be more self-confident.
Also present: Ann-Kathrin Dragesser, Sarah Kron, Liane Dubowy and Pina Merkert
There is no further information on the subject in the c’t, but in the Technology Review 08/22 in the articles on the title topic “Frauen vor!”.
There are new videos on technology topics every Friday on the YouTube channel c’t 3003. The next c’t uplink 46.7 will appear on Saturday, January 21, 2023.
(pmk)
