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Help Wanted: More Women to Work in the Technical Field

By today’s standards, men and women are thought to be equals, but in the technical field, there are far fewer women. The risk here is if there are not enough women in this field, there may be a significant shortage of the talents and skills that women uniquely bring to the market. Those are skills this industry may be lacking in, some believe. What the IT field needs is more women working with it.

What’s the Shortage?

It is evident that there are fewer women in the technical field. Many of them have less confidence in their ability to be successful as compared to men in the industry. However, in a study done by Standard University, men are no more likely to succeed than women are. Women are also more likely to switch careers in this field than men are. They do so because they do not believe they are a good fit. The problem is, evidence indicates that the skills women possess may be more important to this industry than most realize.

Many women have these negative views because of what has plagued the country for hundreds of years: stereotypes. Some have believes that this field is more masculine and therefore that it is something that culturally or stereotypically they believe men should do because, in some way, men are likely to be good at it. That is not necessarily the case, though.

What Women Bring to the Technical Field

Interestingly, in some countries, the job of computing work is thought of as women’s work. This is what happens in Malaysia, for example. More women take these positions than men do. About 20 percent of all engineering students are women. What do these women bring to the table? Women’s creativity, intelligence and problem solving skills are all talents that the industry could benefit from having access to.

It’s Not Recruiters

Recruiters are not necessarily picking a favorite when they hire men, though. Rather, the women believe that they do not have what it takes. However, those who work in this field do well in it. They love their technical jobs. Many women love the thrill of being able to solve a challenging situation. Others have impressive success stories that far outweigh those of men in the field.

Leveling the Playing Field

In order for these particular types of opinions to improve, women will need to develop more confidence in the area of technical work. Attracting more women will benefit the IT field as a whole. For recruiters, this often means offering positive comments and ensuring women that the business and field in general are the right place to be. Many are encouraging recruiters to seek out women for positions to help knock down the stereotype that women cannot do this work as well as men.

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