The future of women in technology: challenges and recommendations

When only women turn up to a panel on challenges for women in technology, how do we then reach out to industry, academia and government to encourage them to listen to the current challenges experienced by women in tech. Technology is rapidly changing and we are seeing women disadvantaged by less training opportunities, lack of role models, perceived penalties for taking time off to have children or discharge caring responsibilities as well as the risk that their jobs are subject to more automation. Multiple workshops at the Institute of Science and Technology highlighted significant challenges for women in tech, the data from our empirical study illustrates these challenges in detail. With the workplace still male dominated and the landscape changing rapidly, women have a significant role to play and we need to ensure that role is not only facilitated but the existing challenges are mitigated. This is a discussion paper with empirical data that illustrates challenges currently experienced by women in tech and how we can move forward to ensure not only equal opportunity but remove some of the challenges currently experienced. In this paper we have not considered the same impact on men who take career breaks for reasons of caring responsibilities.