How to address gender balance & equality in male-dominated industries like tech

First published 10th March 2021

Women are still under-represented, underpaid and discriminated against in the tech sector.

According to a report from McKinsey, diverse companies perform better and have more engaged employees than companies that do not focus on inclusion and diversity.

The report also says that the more female leaders there are at a unicorn, the longer those female leaders stay in their roles.

Our founder & CEO, Katrin Sturm, has been interviewed by the Iconic Offices in Dublin for International Women's Day this month.

She shared 3 concrete tips on how companies can overcome this trend and challenge:

1) SPEAK TO YOUR FEMALE LEADERS

One of the best ways to address any challenge is to speak to your female leaders and have open and honest conversations in a non-judgmental manner. Ask what type of support they need and if there is anything that as a company or a leader you could be doing better.
If you don’t feel comfortable doing so yourself as a male leader, why not get another senior woman leader to do so and ask her to report their findings back to you?

2) DO YOUR RESEARCH

We are fortunate enough to live in an era where information is readily available, so use this to your advantage and do your research. Look to other companies within the industry and take note of the things they are doing successfully and see how you can emulate this within your own company or team. Identify relevant influencers and experts in this area as well as networks and programmes that are readily available on the market without having to reinvent the wheel internally.

3) ASK FOR HELP

It’s okay if you don’t have all of the answers. There might be others who are able to help you find them or provide them for you. If you are a female leader yourself, let me tell you it is ok to ask for help and support – although it might not come very natural to us ambitious women as we have a tendency to think we have to manage and juggle it all by ourselves. Especially as driven women, we have a tendency to be there for the business and the team in the first and put ourselves last.

In order to access the full interview, please click here.