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What is hindering women from flourishing in the tech sector?

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The research of 6,898 women in the world, who are interested in pursuing a career in technology fields, conducted between August and September, unveils the concerns of aspiring female tech professionals despite their growing interest.

The allure of technology in women’s eyes

More than four in five interviewees defined their dream job as a creativity boost (89%), followed by high salary (85%), and challenging, yet rewarding (82%). Securing a position in tech equates with landing their dream job.

Other than these factors, interviewees in China added the innovative (57%) and diverse (25%) nature of tech fields is very attractive.

“The technology industry has tremendous potential to fulfil the criteria cited by women globally when defining their ‘dream job’ and career aspirations,” said Gillian Tans, CEO at Booking.com.

What might be holding women back?

Despite the appeal of the tech sector and the perceived opportunities, women waver with the difficulties they might encounter.

Nearly half (49%) referred to the difficulty of the tech sector’s largely male-dominated workforce, followed by more than a third (35%) who cited gender bias during the recruitment process as a hurdle.

Nearly one in three women globally (31%) felt a lack of female decision makers held back their tech career potential. They considered themselves facing more challenges to enter (87%) and grow and succeed (83%) in certain careers than men.

“Women are still vastly underrepresented in the tech sector. What our research now tells us is exactly where women experience the biggest barriers and where the opportunity to initiate change is,” Tans said.

“The optimism and ambition that we see from women globally to be successful in a technology or IT field is inspiring, particularly among the younger generation, who see the potential for a career in tech to deliver against the high aspirations they hold for themselves.”

High school students were more drawn to tech (35%) than experienced tech professionals (23%) because it offers them the chance to be successful from a young age as the industry involves innovative work (40%) and the freedom to be creative (42%).

The interviewees were from the US, UK, France, Brazil, Netherlands, China, and more. The research was conducted in the form of an online survey.

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