Training drives women’s transition into technical positions in the digital sector

Women in the digital sector are engaged in a long-term endeavor, gradually achieving significant milestones. Reports such as the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 reveal that women represent only 29.2% of the STEM workforce worldwide. According to a study by the UGT (General Workers Union) entitled Women & Technology, seven out of ten Spanish companies have no women specialized in ICT, despite the fact that equal representation in STEM positions would increase GDP by 2.8%

Although there has been an increase in the number of active women in the digital world, the Digital Talent Overview 2023 Report reveals that this growth has only reached 2% over the past year. “It is clear that the sector needs women, and to achieve this, we need everyone’s help,” says Susana del Pino Hernando, Head of Consulting and Equality at Adecco Learning Consulting.

The root of the problem is the low number of women in STEM careers. For instance, they represent just 13% of recent computer science graduates. The National Observatory of Technology and Society (Ontsi) reports that, across OECD countries, while only 5% of 15-year-old boys express interest in working in the technology sector, only 0.5% of girls do.

In some sub-Saharan African countries including Ghana, Mozambique and Nigeria, women in STEM careers make up less than 20%. However, upon graduation, there is often a “drain effect,” as women are more likely than men to leave STEM careers once they enter the labor market.

In Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, women make up only 22% of the total number of engineering and technology graduates, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Another illustration of this reality: in Nigeria, just 5% of Nigerian engineers are women (1 in 20), compared to 29.2% worldwide.

In light of these challenges, initiatives such as DELT-HER, sponsored by the National Agency for Science, Engineering and Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer in Nigeria, are important. The objective of this program is to double the number of female engineers over the next five years, as a first step to reducing the country’s gender gap. One of the key areas of the program will be secondary education, and it will provide young women with the opportunity to share and present their engineering ideas, which could potentially be funded by NASENI.

NASENI Executive Vice President Khalil Halilu outlined the project’s objectives: “Our goal is to narrow the gender gap in engineering, inspire the next generation, provide financial support for new ideas and projects, and ultimately strengthen the entire ecosystem.” He pointed out that “DELT-HER works to address the imbalance [between men and women] by focusing attention and funding on young women. It is very important to raise public awareness on the need to train and mentor more women.”

Mar Llambí, a senior technical architect at KPMG and MPV at Business Apps, says that, over her more than ten-year professional career in the sector, she has held various roles in different countries. She notes that, “regardless of the size or culture of the company, the pattern has always been quite similar: many women worked in the sales and marketing departments, but in more technical and development roles it was very difficult to find other female colleagues”. In her opinion, the growing number of women redirecting their professional careers and signing up for bootcamps or programming courses to pursue positions in programming, data or design highlights the underlying problem: “when a teenage girl considers her career options, few choose a STEM career as an option”. A lack of STEM vocations at a critical age, between 12 and 16 years old, which more and more organisations are trying to address by offering different training initiatives.

“Bootcamps and technical training can play a crucial role in the inclusion of women in technical positions in companies. At Glovo, we currently run bootcamps in Nigeria, Morocco and Spain, where we hope to make a difference for more than 160 women,” says Andrea Barberà, Global DIB & Culture Project Manager at Glovo. They offer the opportunity to acquire specific technical skills in a relatively short period of time and provide them with the practical and applied skills to enter the technology job market. In addition to creating a more inclusive environment, these courses provide opportunities for networking that can help participants to find mentors, role models and connections to access tech positions.

Other Glovo training initiatives include the LeaderSHE program, which helps women advance their careers within the company. So far, 200 female employees and 121 mentors have participated in the program. The company also develops a female data program and a female engineering program, which will include internships for women in the data department. This initiative is designed to attract female talent and bridge the gap between college graduation and entry-level positions at Glovo. New initiatives are also on the horizon, “including training camps for women who lack technical skills but want to pursue a career in technology and scholarships for teenagers,” says Barberà.

In the past two years, Adecco Learning Consulting has provided digital training to over 4,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 30. Although half of them were women, the majority of the training focused on areas such as digital marketing. “If we cover content such as programming, the figure drops to 23%” explains Susana del Pino.

“Although it may not seem so, it is a serious problem. We live in a society that is increasingly influenced and driven by technology and there is a significant gender bias. This is a very important issue that should concern us,” warns Laura Saavedra, professor of Mathematics Applied to Aerospace Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. She adds “we need to make women understand that they can do these jobs and that they are just as valid as men”.

Mar Llambí shares this idea. She thinks that “more than being limited to reach higher or more technical positions, I feel that we continue to carry on our shoulders the pressure to prove that we can also do it.” This mindset often leads to “constant self-destructive behaviors, imposter syndrome, etc. It seems like we are more focused on proving that we are qualified, even though we are already doing our jobs perfectly well.

What is clear is that, when certain cultural and social stereotypes are overcome, there is little reason to doubt that women are as qualified as men to access and grow in the digital labor market. Figures from recent years show a growth in the number of women holding ICT-related positions, already over 23%, but the number of women in positions of responsibility is still relatively low.

There are few women, but they are very visible. As Susana del Pino recalls, we just need to look at the top management positions of companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, HP or LinkedIn. They are all led by women, which shows that important steps are being taken. “The fact that companies are working to offer work-life balance programs, flexibility, review diversity policies and promotion processes, focusing on experience, value and skills, is key to improving insertion and promotion of women in the workplace and, of course, in the digital environment,” she adds.

As such, public-private partnerships are essential to continue advancing women’s access to technical professions. “Collaboration between the public and private sector can address structural challenges, promote gender equity and create a more inclusive environment in the technological workplace,” explains Andrea Barberà from Glovo, who values these partnerships as “fundamental to build the foundations for the future, as it is something that must be worked on in the long term.”

In her opinion, these alliances can contribute to aspects such as working together to collect and analyze data related to gender diversity in the technology sector; working together to create curricula or identify best practices and implementing programs that encourage the participation of women in technical disciplines. In addition, Barberà points out that private companies can partner with government agencies to establish scholarships and grants for women seeking technology training. They can also advocate for initiatives such as co-sponsoring events, participating in job fairs, developing awareness campaigns or implementing mentoring programs that support the professional growth and development of women in technology.

Susana del Pino, from Adecco also advocates for these partnerships that “enable strategic cooperation between different sectors and act as a complement of cultures, technical skills, resources and knowledge to create social value”. She warns that “in areas such as education, research, health or employment, failure is likely to happen if we only play the game with half the team.”

“We need to invest in education from an early age and, of course, we need the collaboration of private sectors and the society in general,” says Professor Saavedra. He poses the question: “Why not start with a joint venture for clothing brands to make girls’ T-shirts with pictures of female scientists?”

The objective is to work from the ground up to ensure the incorporation of women with all that they can bring to these sectors, which Llambí sums up as the following: “I think we are not afraid to challenge the status quo, ask ourselves if there is a different way of doing things and be open to new ideas. We bring quite a different and logical way of thinking. Also, a lot of the women in this sector have worked very hard to establish themselves in their field, so most of them are highly skilled and ready for whatever comes their way.”