Of course one sure fire way for a woman to secure a role in the tech industry is to found a tech startup herself. 20% of all such businesses are now founded by women. In the US this figure drops slightly to 18%, but cities like Chicago and Boston are the most female friendly in the world.
Leading tech firms are now also hiring women to top positions, with the likes of Google, Yahoo, IBM, and HP, all appointing women as their CEOs. This seems to be part of a broader trend in tech as 6 of the Fortune 15 companies have female Chief Information Officers, while 17.4% of the whole Fortune 500 also have female CIOs. This covers everything from Financial Services, to Energy, to Manufacturing.
However perhaps the true female tech pioneers are those who are self made. Zhou Qunfei who founded Hong Kong based company Lens has earned herself a net worth of $7.5 billion. Denis Coates of Bet365 and Judy Faulkner of Epic aren't far behind, collectively helping women make up 7% of the 100 richest tech billionaires as ranked by Forbes.
Forbes also recently named Jenny Lee of GGV Capital the top venture capitalist, the first woman to earn the honor. She is also the leading female investor in the tech industry. Other pioneers include Sandra Kurtzig who was the first woman to take her own Silicon Valley company public, with ASK computer systems, and Angela Ahrendts who in her role as Senior VP of Apple is the highest paid female executive in the United States.
Despite all of these numbers and facts proving that the landscape in tech is changing, there are still those that believe women could still be better represented. Among them are venture capital firms Aligned Partners, Belle Capital, Forerunner Ventures and others, who have decided to only fund tech startups that are founded by women.
But what is actually still holding women back in tech? Research suggests that women are still being paid a lower salary and feel that they do not have the same advancement opportunities as men. More innocent roadblocks include not being able to spend enough time with the family, and simply not being interested in the day to day tasks that tech offers.
Data suggests that women who leave tech opt for less technical jobs, take time off completely, go self employed in the tech industry so they can be their own boss, while others join a startup. While the debate is open about how to retain more women in tech, or whether this is even needed, some suggestions include more flexible working hours, better networking opportunities, and specific mentoring programs for women. To learn more about the current tech landscape for women, check out the following infographic.
Infographic by: #infographic by: Coupofy.com
