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It is still too early to say that discrimination in the high-tech industry is a thing of the past. But the industry is steadily losing its reputation as a “male” one — and statistics confirm this. Together with the online education service Yandex Praktikum, we collected research and data on the situation of girls in IT.
How are things now?
Employment and career: the share of women in Russian IT companies is 32%
In the IT world, it is possible to meet girls in positions of various profiles and levels. However, according to statistics, there are still fewer of them than men. For example, in European IT companies, women occupy only 37% of positions. Moreover, not all of them are related to development, data analysis or testing – only 22% are in specialized positions. In the US, the statistics are slightly better – there are already 26.7% of IT specialists. In Russia, the total share of girls in technology businesses is 32%. The good news is that in 2020, the figure was lower and equaled 30%.
Salary: On average, men in Russia are paid 37.3% more
The income gap also remains, although much depends on the region. For example, in the US it is insignificant: female developers earn 0.07% less than their male colleagues. In Russia, there are no recent industry studies, but general statistics on the labor market have shown that the average difference in wages is 37.3%.
Despite all this, the movement towards equality in the sphere has begun. And certain achievements have already been made.
What is changing for the better
More female IT professionals are emerging around the world
In 2020–2021, women made up 41% of all tech job seekers worldwide. That’s 400% more than in the period from 2015 to 2020. There were especially many new female IT specialists in Latin American countries.
The situation is also improving in Russia. If in 2021, 44% of all CVs in the IT sphere on HeadHunter were female , then in 2022 it was already 52%. That is, even more than male. The number of female specialists aged 14 to 18 and 31 to 40 is growing especially noticeably. Female candidates are being invited to interviews 39% more often.
Scientific evidence is emerging that women code just as well as men
It seems obvious that programming ability does not depend on gender. However, the stereotype that a real IT specialist is a bearded introverted man still exists. Gender-neutral research helps to destroy it.
One of these was conducted by scientists from the universities of California and North Carolina. They chose GitHub as a platform — a large online service for the joint development and storage of IT projects. During the experiment, they checked how customers react to codes from unfamiliar developers, when their gender is revealed and when it is not. In the first case, the girls gave in and received 62.5% of approvals, while in the second case, they won with 71.8% — by the way, the guys did not cross the 70% threshold.
If we look at the overall statistics on GitHub, codes written by girls are accepted 4% more often: 78.6% versus 74.6%. And here it doesn’t matter whether the specialist has her gender indicated in her profile or not.
Brands launch and sponsor projects supporting women in IT
Intel oversees the Million Girls Moonshot project , which helps young girls find inspiration and start working in IT while still in school. Amazon has launched a similar initiative, AWS GetIT . The company is also a partner of Women In Tech , which offers female professionals mentoring and access to advanced training courses. Google has a Women Techmakers program that provides girls with resources, organizes hackathons, and events dedicated to gender equality. And there are many more examples like this.
Tech giants embrace diversity and inclusion policies
Striving for equal conditions is good not only for women, but also for society and business. Statistics show that a diverse workforce in terms of gender, age, cultural background and other characteristics has a 48% higher chance of successful results. Plus, a company with such a team is 36% more likely to be more profitable.
Major IT brands understand this, so they gradually increase the share of women in their teams, including in leadership positions. From 2018 to 2020, the number of female managers increased in 53% of companies. The problem of equalizing incomes is also being addressed. For example, in the US , 75.5% of technology businesses pay the same salaries to men and women .