Retraining Could Bring More Women into the Tech Industry

Currently only 17% of the tech workforce is female. According to new research commissioned by HP, nearly 70% of the women surveyed from across the UK said they would be interested in jobs in the tech sector. Specialised technical roles could also see a significant increase in female recruits, with one third of the women willing to consider that kind of work.

The new poll suggests that an untapped pool of young women keen to explore possible tech careers have misconceptions around the opportunities and a perceived lack of access to them. Some 45% of women expressed a willingness to retrain in a technical job, suggesting a huge opportunity to increase female representation through retraining and upskilling for those already starting careers.

While 97% of women consider technology to be key to the future success of the UK economy, one in five women who didn’t choose to study STEM said it was because they ‘didn’t know anything about it’, suggesting negative associations or an initial lack of interest to the field starts early and persists into adulthood.

Results also highlight a lack of confidence and of being under-qualified as a key driver behind the shortfall of women in the sector. 25% of those women who didn’t study STEM said it was because they didn’t believe they could do it. In addition, 32% of women not in a specialist technical role believe they don’t have the right qualifications leading them to disregard a career in tech.

Many roles in tech can offer an answer to one of the top three priorities when choosing their career, work-life balance, however greater awareness is needed as only 25% of women surveyed associate this with the tech sector. Demonstrating flexibility and balance when advertising jobs can therefore help firms attract more women. In terms of other priorities, unsurprisingly, salary and job location are also listed in the top three.