Skillsoft’s annual ‘Women in Tech’ report reveals that one third of the female employees in the tech industry are contemplating quitting their jobs due to varied factors in their departments and management in addition to lack of skillsets.

In this new-age world, technology is driving more or less everything across the world. Every industry has some involvement of technology in its business affairs. With the technical advancement, the manual workforce is trailing behind.

Women’s participation in this tech-driven corporate realm is gradually increasing but we are still far away from having the equal participation. The involvement of working-age women in the labour market marks below 50 per cent, according to report published in 2020 by United Nations.

Several factors rely behind the seldom engagement of women in tech across the world where companies are looking forward to have such employees who have better understanding of technical mechanism which will help them to thrive faster in the race of convalescent technology in corporate territory.

Stagnation of Women in Tech

An annual report has been published by Skillsoft entitled ‘Women in Tech’ that reveals that a total of 31 per cent women employees, working in technology companies across the globe may quit their jobs within the span of 12 months. The study was conducted virtually in between September 2023 and January 2024. With over 500 complete responses from technology industry’s working-women, the report exclaims that the reason behind this shocking revelation is the lack of training in addition to wanting better compensation.

The study also finds out that there are certain organisations that fails to provide inclusive environment for the women in tech that leads to underrepresentation along with a lack of retention of female talent. This withdraws the interest of women to continue working in such workplace. The need of an equitable tech landscape in corporate workplace is decisive and paramount.

Additionally, women face numerous challenges in their workplace that subsidizes gender inequality such as meagre support along with limited career advancement opportunities. Unquestionably, the tech landscape has the potential for high-paying roles and career growth, however, women are nowhere to be found in those roles.

Integers of the Report

The key findings of the study claims that 40% of the women employees mentioned that the cause of their decision is the department or the management in the organisation they are working for whereas 39% quoted the lack of training and growth. Likewise, only 26% of women has given the reason of compensation for the decision to quit their jobs.

Skillsoft’s chief information officer said in a statement, “Around 85 per cent of our survey respondents say there is a gender disparity within their team and 38 per cent are dissatisfied with their growth potential. We’re at a tipping point where the risk of attrition threatens to significantly widen an already prominent gender gap in the tech industry.”

He added, “While there are more opportunities for women than ever before, leaders must provide intentional support and foster the development of critical skills so that they can thrive, lead, and push the business forward.”

Despite putting efforts into eliminating gender disparity by various tech organisations, there’s only 15% of women who are in an equal ratio of men which exemplifies that we are still not close to gender equity in workplaces.

Grounds of Women Quitting Tech Jobs

The study gives numerous reasons for the strong decisions made by women to quit their jobs but one of the top hindrances that comes on their way is lack of training especially in learning generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) which are being engrafted in almost all tech firms. In numbers, 43% of women seek hands-on practice whereas 40% seek delivery format flexibility.

To back the statement, 41% of women looks forward to have training in AI in order to excel in the tech-driven businesses. They say, “The involvement and empowerment of women in AI is essential to ensuring the technology is designed and implemented in ways that are equitable and inclusive. Diversity fosters innovation, and therefore advancing women's skills in AI can lead to the development of more creative and equitable solutions to business problems.”

Besides the struggle in Artificial Intelligence, 37% of women in tech are captivated towards learning skills in leadership and management and contrarily 23% seeks project management.

Call to Action

The study suggests that it is the responsibility of the employers to take forwarding steps towards the advancement of women in tech and remove the obstacles that comes on their way of progress. Likewise, women employees should also carry the responsibility to support and assist one another via looking out for mentorships and clasping new opportunities.

Collaborative work between women can reduce the hindrance to zenith. Moreover, by prioritizing an equitable and inclusive workplace, organisations can make their work environment better and diverse with maximum participation of women employees.