Telecommunications has come a long way, but it takes time to change attitudes with people who have been in the industry for years.
A recent report (from the Australian Computer Society) showed that women make up 29% of the technology workforce here in Australia.
This is far less than in professional services (44%) and other sectors.
Why is this the case?
Having watched the telecommunications industry evolve over the last 20 years, let's analyse how we have changed and some potential solutions to increase women in technology and telco.
The view from the top is rosy
Organisations have been quite successful in getting women into the upper echelons of business, at the executive levels.
But in the middle of the tree - think middle to senior management - not as much.
That's because of the experience of those women has come through generationally.
Telecommunications has come a long way, but it takes time to change attitudes with people who have been in the industry for years.
Universities have been great at encouraging women to move into technology and telecommunications from a graduate level. But we're probably not going to see the fruits of that for another eight years.
A gap in experience
There's a small handful of women who have been in telecommunications for 30 years.
Then you have those who are starting their careers in the sector.
So you are left with a massive gap between hugely experienced professionals and the former group.
And businesses are forced to make a compromise in some instances.
And that's a hard position because realistically, you should choose the best person for the job, whether they are male or female.
I've actually had managers tell me they have had too many blokes on the team. They genuinely want that diversity. But we need to continue to work at getting female talent in at all levels to build wider levels of experience.
Partnering at the education level
There are some good groups supporting women in technology and engineering -like WIT and NCWIE.
Camp Seek is a great initiative at the school level.
It invites girls interested in tech in years 9–11 to come together for a week-long event to develop relevant skills and explore their career options.
Well done Seek - and more of that is needed.
So what's next?
We need to do more at the university level, encourage more knowledge sharing in organisations and continue to build leadership programs.
And from the people I've spoken to over the years in telecommunications, I'm confident we can continue to keep this growing.
If your organisation is looking to get the gender balance right, reach out to Hunter and engage our extensive network of professional females.
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