More women in tech and digital: it’s urgent to act and react!

Yesterday their names were Ada, Grace, Anita. Now? They are the pioneers of digital technology. Many people don’t know it, but it was a woman who created the first computer program in the 19th century: Ada Lovelace. Another woman, Grace Hopper, who designed the first programming language in 1959. Another woman, Anita Borg, who in the 80s devised a system for analyzing memory systems at high speed, and was one of the first active users of e-mail.

But since the 70s and 80s, the computer hardware and software industry has become a men’s business, and women are gradually being sidelined, even though digital technology is transforming the world, and their absence will ultimately pose a problem for society as a whole.

Today, the proportion of female students in the digital sector is less than 15%, and declining all the time, despite the fact that it is graduates of this specialization who today enjoy the best conditions for integration into the job market, with 79% of IT graduates on permanent contracts (compared to an average of 50% for all graduates in France), 87% of whom are managers (compared to an average of 57% for all graduates in France)[1].

Today, data from Syntec Numérique confirms that women remain under-represented in the digital sector, accounting for just 27.1% of the workforce (including support functions)[2], even though it has been demonstrated that a greater presence of women in the digital sector could increase the European Union’s GDP by 9 billion each year[3]!

Today, the difficulties encountered by VivaTechnology in mobilizing women in digital clearly confirm this observation. Indeed, this flagship event, which will be held in Paris from June 30 to July 2, 2016 to bring together start-ups and major corporations around technological innovation, has made a major effort to welcome women, a commitment confirmed by the organization of a series of conferences on this subject in partnership with the Women’s Forum[4]. However, the organizers rightly ask: “Is it so difficult to listen to women at a high-tech conference? Indeed, is it so surprising to give the floor to women who hold important positions in these professions? Alas, the answer today is still yes. One only has to look at the proportion of women in general at this type of event in France and abroad to be convinced.

Today, we refuse to give up! We refuse to accept this state of affairs. It’s time, it’s urgent, to act, to react. It’s time to reconcile girls and young women with the training they don’t choose, often out of ignorance, or because of stereotypes linked to these professions.

We urgently need to show them how their ideas, their expertise, their creativity and their way of thinking can make all the difference in this industry of products and services from which they exclude themselves. And yet, they are the primary users in their professional and private lives, with a stronger presence than men on social networks such as Twitter (22% of women users versus 15% of men), or Facebook (76% of women versus 66% of men)[5]. It’s vital to make all these exemplary achievements by women visible, and to promote the strengths of mixed teams in these new professions that are shaping the world of the future.

Numerous initiatives have already been launched by women’s associations and networks, companies committed to gender equality, schools and universities, public authorities… but progress remains insufficient. That’s why we’re calling on the government to take decisive action on this issue. An action which, because it involves the public authorities, as well as a plurality of representative players and in particular women’s networks such as those we represent, will enable women to contribute to future developments in the digital sector too!

• Catherine Ladousse, Co-founder & President, CercleInterElles
• Claudine Schmuck, President of the Informatique et TélécomSciencesPo Alumni group, G9+ member
• Thaima Samman Co-founder and President of the EuropeanNetwork for Women in Leadership

[1]Source: APEC, September 2015.

[2]Source: Key figures for the digital sector, April 2016, Syntec Numérique

[3]Source: “Women active in the ICT sector”, DG Connect, 2013.

[4]Saturday, July 2: The place of women in the digital revolution

[5]Source: Brandwatch blog, January 2015.