Women can Tech, and Women should Tech

This gender disparity in labour force especially manifests in tech-related jobs.

March 14, 2022
By Jiexi Jia

Challenging social biases often require assiduous and consistent efforts. Despite the substantial improvements made towards gender equality in the global workforce, women still suffer from a lack of participation in the market. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), even though 70% of women worldwide prefer to work in paid jobs, only 49% are included in the labour force, compared to 75% of men.

This gender disparity in labour force especially manifests in tech-related jobs. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2021 by the World Economic Forum, Gender gaps are more likely in sectors that require disruptive technical skills. For example, in Cloud Computing, women make up 14% of the workforce, in engineering, 20% and in Data and AI, 32%.

UNIDO’s Chief Advisor at the Directorate of Corporate Management and Operation, Cecilia Ugaz Estrada, reflects that there is a low participation of women in technological sectors, and this scenario has not changed in the last decades. “We have a very limited presence in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. Women presence in STEM careers are only around 24%,” explained Ugaz Estrada.

Women Cleantech Entrepreneurship

Taking clean technology sector as an example. Clean-tech, with its potential for creating sustainable, resilient and inclusive employment is crucial for a green recovery from the global COVID-19 crisis and for building back better. In the business space, there is emerging evidence that not only women-owned or women-led companies tend to prioritize social and environmental benefits over mere shareholder value – companies with greater gender diversity on their boards are significantly more likely than others to reduce the company’s energy consumption, greenhouse gas emission and water use.

However, women cleantech entrepreneurs are faced with great challenges, ranging from lack of venture capital investment, gender finance gap, to unequal access to networks and market opportunities. For example, recent research shows that less than 3 percent of venture capital was invested in women-led companies; and it is estimated that women entrepreneurs have only been awarded 1 percent of government procurement and tenders worldwide.

In supporting the transition to a green economy, the business sector needs to shift its paradigm from focusing primarily on quick revenue to providing more sustainable medium- to long-term capital investment, and combine it with support of gender inclusive networks. The public sector needs to ensure that women in the cleantech field can access and benefit from favourable policies such as investment readiness programmes, tax exemptions, and subsidies for cleantech entrepreneurs. The governments need to ensure a gender-responsive public procurement.

Digital Skills

There is no way around it. The digital age is here, and women need to invest in the relevant digital skills to have a more active role in the market. According to UN Women, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, women’s jobs are 19% more at risk than men’s, mainly because women are overrepresented in industries that took the hardest hit by the crisis. To secure a more sustainable and inclusive industrial growth and reduce the gender skills gap, developing the skills of the future is crucial. Lucia Cartini, Senior Coordinator at UNIDO’s regional coordination division for the Arab Region, points out that “the use of digital technologies, especially in times of pandemic, has become more and more important.”

Solomiya Omelyan, Programme Officer at UNIDO’s regional coordination division for Europe and Central Asia, argues that it is necessary to prioritize skills that are complementary to the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and cannot be easily replaced by machines. “Skills that will be indispensable for sustainable industrial development, innovation promotion, and climate agenda,” said Omelyan.

A student from AGEVEC, LKDF’s project, in Morocco.

According to the World Economic Forum, 85 million jobs could be potentially displaced by automation, nevertheless, there will be new analytical roles created and adapted to enable the interaction of humans and machines – being STEM subjects at the core of the skills needed for these jobs of tomorrow. Ilona Sleptsova, Project Consultant at UNIDO’s regional coordination division for Europe and Central Asia, says that “STEM skills are vital for the economic empowerment of women”.

Closing the Gender Industrial Skills Gap

One way of confronting the issues posed by gender inequality is by promoting skills development programmes targeted to empower women. Technical education and vocational training lie at the heart of sustainable development. An increasingly automated workplace calls for a new skill set. This necessitates a complete overhaul of vocational training. Such an overhaul can only be achieved through integrated industrial and educational policies and investments in technology and skills under a single coordinated strategy.

Bringing public, private and development actors together means that the strengths of each stakeholder can be drawn upon to identify needs, determine priorities and leverage funding in support of joint outcomes. The distinguishing factor for public private development partnerships (PPDPs) compared to private public partnership (PPP) is the addition of social inclusion (e.g. of women or indigenous populations) and environmental sustainability (such as proper disposal of toxic waste) as outcomes of interest.

H2O Maghreb

The goal of H2O Maghreb is to improve industrial and municipal water management practices in Morocco in an inclusive and sustainable way. H2O Maghreb has committed to working to boost women’s employability and challenge well-established gender norms by targeting their recruitment efforts towards young women with the potential to excel in this technical industry while also protecting this highly-valued resource.

Since the launch of H2O Maghreb, women continue to make up the largest share of applicants and represent over 75% of the program graduates. Most are under the age of 25 years old. Within six months of completing the training program, nearly all participants were employed in relevant and stable positions. With women consistently comprising over half of each training cohort, the program demonstrates the strong potential of women to not only participate in but lead the way in technical industries, such as water and wastewater management.

Unlocking women’s full potential and empowering women in tech fields of study and careers requires a refreshment of the old gender-oriented bias and discrimination, as well as the support from different sectors for a more favourable environment. A common and sustainable prosperity under the backdrop of the 4^th Industrial Revolution is only possible when women’s contribution is cherished and rewarded.