On International Women’s Day, Beth Caniglia asks what the current state of play is for women in tech …
It’s been an interesting 12 months across the gender politics spectrum. There have been marches and protests. The powerful #timesup and #metoo movements were born and the Google Manifesto (hitting close to home for those of us in the tech industry) sparked intense debate and division.
So on International Women’s Day 2018, we’re asking the question – what is it like, right now, for women in tech?
This writer has herself experienced the very standard phenomenon of being one of only a handful of women in a room full of men at plenty a startup event here in Perth.
Anecdotes aside though, a day like this one seems the perfect time to check out the stats to get a more accurate view of where things are at for women in tech.
So here’s the lowdown:
- 37% of founders were female in 2017 (via Startup Muster)
- The gender pay gap is down to 15.3% (in Nov 2017) from 18.5% (in Nov 2014) (via Workplace Gender Equality Agency)
- The pay gap is down ~3% in industries particularly relevant to start-ups (via Workplace Gender Equality Agency)
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- Information, Media and Telecommunications
- WA is lagging behind the rest of the country with the biggest pay gap (of 22.5%) (via Workplace Gender Equality Agency)
For the most part, we’re seeing a positive trend towards more women in tech and smaller pay gaps across the board – even if poor old WA is chasing behind the rest of the country.
We’re lucky as well to have a plethora of fierce and hungry local women that have been leading the way for some time now with incredible ideas and executions – Dr. Jemma Green, Co-founder and Chair of Power Ledger and Melanie Perkins – CEO of Canva – to name a few.
Australia wide, there are plenty of other influential women doing great things and amazing organisations like WITWA championing diversity and equality for women in technology in Western Australia.
There’s definitely more improvements and headway to make, but it’s nice to take a look back and check that we are moving in the right direction.
All the female entrepreneurs in WA – we salute you!