There are not enough women employed in technical roles in the digital sector, according to research by The Candidate.
The digital recruitment agency found so-called ‘hard skills’ jobs within the digital industry are predominately dominated by men.
The most popular digital roles for women are typically ‘soft skill’ jobs – marketing and media (27 per cent), account handling (26 per cent) and public relations and communications (18 per cent).
The study also suggests the demand for digital jobs will increase, with industry revenue set to soar by 90 per cent in 2016.
1.46 million people are currently employed in the digital sector, making up 7.5 per cent of the UK’s workforce.
However, only 9 per cent of the women researched were employed in a hard skills role – as web developers.
Brian Matthews, managing partner at The Candidate, commented: “There needs to be an equal measure of both soft and hard skills to truly help this sector thrive. On the whole, we need to work together to close the digital skills gap, and this involves digital professionals and the education system making a joint effort. Initiatives such as women-only coding clubs are cropping up in the North at the moment, and a lot of women are really championing digital, but it’s the job of the education system, as well as leaders in the industry, to work together to encourage talent to take up the hard skill roles that the sector is really struggling to fill.
“Soft skill roles are crucial to the industry’s success, but there needs to be an even mix of both to help it grow. The fact that nearly 10 per cent of those we spoke to are in web developer roles is positive, however, and we hope that this is a sign of what’s to come.”
