Woman in Tech 2021

TrustRadius has recently conducted a report on women working in tech organisation across the world. The study highlights different trends on gender equality in the workplace, the barriers to promotion and unconscious bias that females are facing in 2021.

Key Insights

• 57% of women in tech feel burned out at work this year, compared to 36% of men.
• Women in tech are nearly twice as likely as men to have lost their jobs or been furloughed due to the pandemic.
• Women are divided on whether remote work has helped or hurt women in tech. 42% say it’s had a negative impact, 41% say the impact has been positive, and 17% say there’s been no impact.
• The majority (72%) of women in tech are regularly outnumbered by men in business meetings by at least a 2:1 ratio. 26% of women report being outnumbered by 5:1 or more.
• 78% of women in tech feel they have to work harder than their coworkers to prove their worth.
• Women in tech are 4X more likely than men to see gender bias as an obstacle to promotion. 39% of women see gender bias as a barrier to promotion in 2021.
• Women of colour are less confident than white women about their promotion prospects—and that gap has increased by 3X over the past year.
• 37% of women of colour in tech feel that racial bias is a barrier to promotion.
• To help support women in tech, 78% of women say companies should promote more women into leadership positions.

1. COVID-19 Impact on Women in Tech

The research shows that women in tech have been impacted a lot by the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of burnout, women are facing more of the negative impacts of this crisis than their male peers. 57% of the women feel more burned out at work due to the pandemic in contrast to 36% of men.

2. How has ‘Worklife’ been affected by Covid-19

3. Remote Work and the Impact on Women in Tech

TrustRadius found that many tech workers feel more productive working from home. Although women in tech feel they have much less of a positive impact with 41% in comparison to men by 23%.

4. Work from home experience

According to TrustRadius Report, March 2021:“Women in different departments have also had very different work-from-home experiences.53% of women in Engineering and IT say that remote work has been positive for women in tech. But that percentage decreases across women in Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service.This could be due to the fact that these fields are more incentive-based and competitive. Traits like assertiveness, confidence, and ambition are crucial here. We know that these traits are often seen as negatives in women and positives in men. It’s possible that remote work may be amplifying sexist trends that already exist.

These fields are also more metrics-based. There’s a clear, numbers-based way to measure success in these roles. It may not matter as much whether employees are communicating remotely or in-person. Other demands on their time may be a bigger factor.

Women in tech have to manage a greater amount of household work, which limits the energy they can put into hitting those numbers. The deteriorating boundary between work and home can mean working overtime at both.Seniority also has an impact on how people perceive remote work. We found that men in leadership positions are more likely to see the shift to remote work as a positive for women in tech. Women in leadership positions are more likely to see a negative impact.

This may be due to an increased focus on results, which could be viewed by male leadership as equalizing the playing field. Women in leadership positions may experience the pandemic overload firsthand and may have a different view.”

5. Women Are Still Outnumbered in the Tech Industry

While many of us have seen some progress toward gender equality in the tech industry over the past years across the world, women are still outnumbered by men. According to the TrustRadius research in March 2021, ‘72% of women in tech are outnumbered by men in business meetings by at least a 2:1 ratio. The vast majority of men agree with this observation.’

6. Do women in tech have to work harder?

The research that was conducted by TrustRadius shows that nearly 8 in 10 women feel like they have to work harder to prove their worth at work and only 5 out 10 of men say the same. Women who are VPs, C-level, or CEOs are especially likely to feel this pressure.

7. Do you see gender bias as a barrier to getting a promotion?

In 2021, women in tech are four times more likely than men to see gender bias as an obstacle to promotion. Nearly 2 in 5 women felt that their gender was a barrier to being considered for their next promotion.

Another key finding according to Trustradios Report, March 2021, “…is that among respondents who identify as Asian, Latino, Black, American Indian, Pacific Islander, or “Other,” nearly 2 in 5 women (37%) see their race as a barrier to getting promoted. Women of colour are also more likely than their white peers to identify gender bias, lack of trust, and budget issues as obstacles.”

8. Do employees believe the gender equality improved at their workplace in 2020?

9. Do Executives believe gender equality improved at their business in 2020?

Leadership positions are still problematically male-dominated. We were concerned to see that those in leadership felt even more doubtful of progress. Across men and women, only 24% of executives felt things had improved, and 22% said things have gotten worse. Executives possess a unique ability to make change.

10. What should Tech companies do to support women in tech?

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