Parcoursup applications: think digital professions!

The digital sector is actively recruiting young talent, particularly women, who are still under-represented.

While digital technology plays a major role in our society, only 28% of women currently work in this field[1]. The gap widens even further when it comes to the most technical profiles. Yet the opportunities are huge and the needs are growing. With this in mind, how can we encourage women to enter the digital professions, when stereotypes still die hard?

Digital, a dynamic sector in search of more women

While 56% of female high school students are interested in IT careers, only 37% of girls are considering a computer science/engineering school[2]. In fact, their proportion is rising slightly, with 29.1% of girls for the start of the 2021/2022 academic year, compared with 27% for the start of the 2016/2017 academic year, although this remains low[3]. At the same time, between 2013 and 2017, the number of women graduating from higher education in digital technology and engineering fell by 6%, from 35700 to 33700.

Between 2014 and 2021, the number of women engineers in the digital sector almost doubled, from 7,865 to 1,4384. This trend needs to be qualified, however, as women represent only 16% of engineers, whose numbers increased by a third over the same period.

At the same time, opportunities in this sector are plentiful, with over 200,000 vacancies to be filled by 2027, and an attractive average salary: among Numeum member companies, average annual remuneration stands at €49,050. Remuneration increases significantly with age and seniority.

Numeum commits to raising awareness in the digital ecosystem

Because the feminization of digital professions is a major challenge, Numeum has been leading initiatives in this area for several years, offering concrete solutions for companies, with the support of its ecosystem. Launched in 2011, the Femmes du Numérique program aims to increase the attractiveness of the digital sector, particularly for young girls and women undergoing retraining.

Through this program, Numeum has been a partner for over 6 years of Social Builder, a social start-up whose mission is to enable women to make their career paths in the digital sector a reality. Together, they have published a manifesto with almost 200 signatures to date, followed by a white paper aimed at companies and organizations to encourage women to make the transition to digital professions.

In 2022, Opco Atlas, Femmes@Numérique and Numeum have launched a mini-series called “Cassons les codes”, encouraging young women to discover and overcome preconceived ideas about the sector. The opening of the Parcoursup platform and the choices to be made before March 9 are an opportunity to encourage viewing of this mini-series to put an end to clichés about digital professions!

[1] INSEE: Economy and society in the digital age

[2] Ipsos survey conducted for EPITECH

[3] Numeum – Report on the composition of employment and remuneration in member companies (2021)