New research suggests the education system must do more to support and encourage women into technical roles to help close the digital gender skills gap. Will Green reports
There was one piece of good news for women and jobs last month: Queen Elizabeth II became the longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, moving past her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. But away from jobs appointed by hereditary privilege, things have been less rosy. The Labour membership rejected female contenders for leader, deputy and Mayor of London in largely 50/50 fields, and newly elected Jeremy Corbyn was roundly criticised for failing to appoint any women in the four top cabinet positions.
When even the progressive political party of the UK fails to demonstrate its commitment to gender equality in its appointments, it’s no wonder there is still much frustration at the lack of female representation in so many sectors. Because, make no mistake, this lack of representation isn’t just bad for women; it’s bad for business.
This was once again resoundingly demonstrated in a study by digital recruitment agency The Candidate, which studied the career paths of over 2000 women working in digital jobs in the north of the country. The research found that the most popular jobs for women in this sector are in marketing and social media (27 per cent), account handling (26 per cent), and public relations and communications (18 per cent), all typically ‘soft skill’ roles.
The current state of the digital industry, however, requires that it’s absolutely crucial for women to fill more technical roles. The Candidate’s study revealed there are 1.46 million people – 7.5 per cent of the UK’s workforce – currently employed in the digital sector, and with revenue expected to increase by 90 per cent in 2016, it’s more important than ever to have a steady flow of talent to fill digital jobs. But just one role that required hard skills – web developer – made it into the top five most popular digital roles for women.
A root and branch problem
Digging deeper into the research reveals the extent of the problem. Within the 150 digital businesses examined in the research, 65 per cent of employees were male and 35 per cent female, demonstrating the fact that digital continues to be a male-dominated industry. Additionally, the report found that there are 156 per cent more men in management roles than women. Of the participants in the survey, 1131 were men operating in management roles (manager, senior manager, director, MD or CEO), compared to 441 women.
And this is a problem that only deepens past the middle-management layer. Of the 150 digital companies in the survey, 132 were headed by men, with only 18 operating with a female CEO or MD. This isn’t a problem unique to the digital sector by any means – there are still 23 all-male boards in the FTSE 250 – but seeing these figures so starkly represented illuminates the scale of the problem.
Commenting on the report, Nicola Marsh, head of i-LAB at MediaCom, said: “There are some very obvious examples of where women have broken through in digital – Yahoo, Facebook, Google, MediaCom etc. The question then becomes ‘would there be more female leaders if the leaders in the industry didn’t have such a masculine bias?’ I am not sure you can say yes or no to that, but looking across the industry as a whole, evidence would suggest that it tends to be male dominated once you get past the middle management layer.”
The research also demonstrated another perennial issue: the salary gap. Looking at low- to mid-level roles, the picture is disappointing but not disastrous with women receiving, on average, nine per cent less than men, slightly lower than the national pay gap average of 9.4 per cent. The highest percentage of men working in digital fall into the £21,000 to £30,000 bracket; but 43 per cent of women earn below £20,000, compared to 24 per cent of men. As the study points out, this may signal there are more women coming into the industry at entry level, which may be a positive step. But at higher levels, the same issue of underrepresentation reveals itself in earnings, with 80 per cent of top salaries in digital going to men.
How to close these gaps
The digital industry is crying out for a broader pool of skilled workers to address digital skills gaps; in marketing especially, it is the go-to factor cited when industry leaders are asked what is hindering their ability to improve performance. Issues around digital education have been widely debated over recent years with the redevelopment of the national curriculum. Many have openly criticised the lack of focus on digital skills and the inability of the education system to deliver courses that are going to shape the skilled professionals the industry – and thus, the wider business community – needs.
As Dawn Anderson, MD of Move It Marketing, argues: “There are definite opportunities for women in digital going forward, but it needs to begin at education level. Search, in particular, is moving towards an integration with development and there is a lack of computing and coding route encouragement for young women in education. The digital industry could encourage more women to enter the sector by working with educational institutes and wider organisations to bring more females in at ground level and teach them it’s not a male industry.”
This education also needs to follow through to higher education: The Candidate’s study spoke to 50 female students studying digital courses at universities across the north, asking what they value in terms of education – particularly, the split between on the ground or in-class experience – and how this compares with the experiences of women currently working in digital roles.
The results were encouraging: 80 per cent of students had taken a work placement or apprenticeship within the last year, compared to the only one in 10 women currently working in digital who completed an apprenticeship. There are significantly more opportunities for students to get work experience in the industry.
Commenting on the overall report, Brian Matthews, managing partner at The Candidate, said: “It was disappointing to see from our research that there is a real imbalance in the amount of women in soft and hard skill jobs. It may be that because hard skill roles, like user experience positions for example, are typically dominated by men, women are being put off. But there needs to be an equal measure of both soft and hard skills to truly help this sector thrive, and the education system has a big responsibility in providing not just training, but support to those wanting a career in the more technical side of this industry.
“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.”
The full Women in Digital report is available here.
