Women are dropping out of tech even when they choose it in high school
How to encourage girls' interest in tech — Newsletter No.24
Research by McKinsey found that up to 1 in 3 girls who are studying tech-based subjects at school in Europe then drop out of the pipeline before making it to university.
The consulting firm’s research found that 31% of girls studying information science, computer science, and technology at school level don’t choose these subjects at university, and the same is true of 18% of girls taking science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at school level.
McKinsey stated that, to increase the constantly low number of women in the tech and STEM sectors, issues would have to be addressed with the talent pipeline.
For example, the number of girls taking STEM subjects drops by 18% between school and university, and another 15% between university and the workplace – the two big holes in the talent pipeline.
While the number of women who have chosen to take computer science at university level has increased in the UK, the number graduating from STEM courses at higher education level is actually dropping in Europe.
Between 2016 and 2020, there was a steady drop in the number of female STEM university graduates by between 1-2% each year.
Why are girls dropping out?
It’s not down to academic achievement – when it comes to STEM, girls consistently outperform boys in countries such as Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia and Sweden in maths and science.
According to McKinsey (and some of the research we featured like this or this one), girls are not as encouraged by teachers, peers or parents when it comes to taking part in STEM subjects, and are exposed to both conscious and unconscious bias when it comes to taking part in STEM, leading to a drop off in interest and confidence.
With a STEM degree, women go into tech half as often as men
Only 19% of those taking tech-related bachelor’s degrees in Europe are women, which means there is a lack of women studying the same subjects and a lack of role models to point them in the right direction.
If studying STEM degrees, women are just as likely, or slightly more likely, than men to graduate from these programmes, but only 23% of women who take part in STEM at university level end up in tech roles, as opposed to 44% of men.
Once women make it into the tech industry, there’s a significant difference between the percentage of women in tech-based companies versus tech-based roles.
And the lowest percentage of women are in “the sexiest” tech roles
McKinsey stated the number of women working in tech companies is almost equal to the number of men, whereas the number of women in tech roles regardless of the type of company or industry is significantly less – women make up around 37% of people working in tech-based companies in Europe, whereas they only account for 25% of people working in tech roles within these companies.
When it comes to the women who make up 37% of workers in tech companies, they are more likely to be found in social media or e-commerce – women make up 50% of people working in social media, 46% of people working in e-commerce, 44% in entertainment, 39% in high tech and software, and 24% in semiconductors.
When it comes to tech-based roles, McKinsey’s research suggested the percentage of women across all sectors is the lowest in some of the tech disciplines that are growing at the quickest rate – across all sectors, only 8% of those working in cloud and DevOps are women versus 46% in UX/UI, and only 10% of women in tech-based companies are in cloud or solutions architect roles, and only 13% are Python developers.
What now?
McKinsey’s estimations are bleak, predicting the percentage of women in tech roles is likely to be around 21% in Europe in 2027. “Addressing this shortfall is about much more than doing the right thing; it’s an economic necessity.”
McKinsey suggests four ways Europe can begin to address these issues: tackling workplace bias, working on retention, reskilling, and encouraging girls to stay in STEM classes. These, it says, could increase the number of women in tech by up to 3.9 million in the next five years.
So, what you do is important. For your daughter and for the entire society. And, until the mainstream narrative changes, we are here to help you with our resources:
Keep on practicing our recommendations of fun things to do with your daughter to get here engage in tech (here’s the last one if you didn’t get to it yet)
Stay informed and motivated. We’ll make sure you are on track with recent insights regarding girls and women in tech. Just like this one.
Let us know if you need any additional resources from us.
And, help us spread the word by sharing this :)