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La situación de las mujeres en el sector IT

The situation of women in the IT sector

Only 3 out of 10 ICT jobs in Europe are occupied by women, a figure that is halved in the case of Spain (15.6%), according to data from Eurostat’s “White Paper on women in technology”.

The gender digital divide is taking on particular relevance in today’s  labour market where technology is becoming increasingly important. In  fact, 51% growth of future jobs is expected in 2020, which will mean  6.1 million job opportunities globally, according to a report  from the World Economic Forum.

Aware of this panorama, from  TalentFY  , we have decided to focus this article to address this issue in different areas of daily life.

In the workplace

Reduced working hours: Not only are there more men than women in IT professions, but contracts in these positions are different. Thus, 5.5% of women in the sector have a part-time job compared to 3.4% of men, according to a study published in the Spanish Journal of Sociological Research. But the most striking are the reasons given for this, since 33.5% of women, compared to 4.5% of men, work this way to be able to devote themselves to family and home care.

Wage gap: According to a report published by ClosinGap, the wages received by Spanish women are 21.9% lower than those of men (annual difference of 5,784 euros). According to a study by “The Stage of Wage Inequality in the Workplace”, in the scientific and technical professions the wage gap is 31% (10,024 euros difference).

Glass ceiling: In gender studies, it is called glass ceiling the veiled limitation of the work promotion of people within organizations, it is a ceiling that limits their professional careers, difficult to pass and that prevents them to continue advancing. According to a report by Womenalia/Accenture, 2 out of 3 telecommunications companies in Europe do not have women among their managers. In addition, the so-called glass ceiling is reflected in the proportion of women on the boards of IBEX 35 companies, where the female presence is limited to 26%.

In the field of training

Lack of references: Although there are female referents in technology such as Radia Perlman, sociologist David Chambers conducted an experiment that consisted of asking several children to draw how they imagined a scientist. In this study 70% of 6-year-old girls drew a woman, but at 16 years only 1 in 4 girls did.

The percentage of female teachers and researchers in Spanish public higher education has oscillated around 41% in the last ten years, according to the Ministry of Education, while there are only 22% of female professors in our country.

Fewer women in technological careers: The prejudices of predominantly female or male professions end up conditioning the choice of many women. Last year, according to the European Commission, Spanish universities with degrees in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) had only 34% of women in their classes.

On a personal level

Maternity Vs Paternity: Maternity penalizes women, while paternity favors men’s work development. In recent years, the employment rate for men between 25 and 49 years of age with children under 12 years of age has been 88 per cent, while the percentage is limited to 66.6 per cent, data reflected by the National Statistics Institute.

Family burdens: Who is still responsible? In the report published by ClosinGap they say that on average, women spend 2 hours more than men on household tasks and 46 extra minutes on childcare.

Did you know this information? Were you aware of this inequality? What do you think you could do to end inequality between men and women in the IT sector?

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