The economic slowdown has led to cutbacks to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes. Photo / Getty Creative
The economic slowdown has led to cutbacks to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes. Photo / Getty Creative
The second annual Tech Beyond Gender survey of 200 female and gender-diverse staff working in New Zealand technology companies found problems persisting.
The economic slowdown had led to cutbacks to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes, according to the study’s author, Tech Beyond Gender founder Meena Satishkumar.
And more cuts could be ahead as the Trump administration-born DEI backlash hits our shores, according to local industry group TechWomen.
A selection of respondents’ anonymised comments gives a feel for what some were facing.
“During a sprint planning meeting, I explained a technical solution I’d worked hard on. No one responded. Two minutes later, a male colleague rephrased exactly what I said – and suddenly it was a brilliant idea. It wasn’t the first time and it probably won’t be the last. It chips away at your confidence,” one said.
“I was the most experienced engineer on the team, but whenever architectural decisions came up, they’d look past me and ask the new guy what he thought,” another said.
A third recounted: “Every time there’s a ‘people issue’ or someone’s upset, they ask me to step in because I’m ‘good with emotions’. I’m a senior developer. But somehow I’ve been unofficially assigned the role of team therapist.”
And a fourth said, “I joined a new team as a senior engineer, but in the first few meetings, people assumed I was there to take notes. I had to keep reminding them, ‘No, I’m leading the back end on this project’.”
“Since our first survey last year, there’s been some progress.
“Particularly, increased awareness and openness about gender bias and microaggression in workplaces,” Satishkumar said.
“We saw a slight reduction in reported microaggressions, from 48% down to 40% of respondents.”
Microaggression is subtle, often passive-aggressive behaviour, such as ignoring someone in a meeting or talking down their contribution.
The survey also highlights, “The frequent use of casual, gendered terms (such as ‘guys’, ‘boys’ or ‘bros) and underlying assumptions that women and gender-diverse professionals are less competent foster an exclusionary workplace environment.”
What’s got worse?
“One thing that has clearly worsened since last year’s survey is employee frustration around pay transparency and fair compensation.
“This year, over 70% expressed dissatisfaction with pay transparency and nearly half felt their compensation was unfair – highlighting growing frustration and a sense of mistrust around pay practices,” Satishkumar said.
“And the percentage of women and gender-diverse professionals considering leaving their roles is alarmingly high, at 63%.
“These findings underline that organisations must urgently move from surface-level commitments to implementing meaningful and transparent systemic changes.
“Superficial diversity initiatives still persist, leaving many professionals feeling undervalued.
“While awareness is growing, translating this into meaningful, systemic change requires organisations to actively embed inclusive practices, clear pathways for advancement and robust anti-discrimination policies.
“We’re encouraged by the increased conversation, but substantial work still lies ahead.”
TechWomen executive director Yvonne Gill says the American DEI backlash is likely to flow through to US-headquartered businesses' New Zealand operations.
Has the DEI backlash hit NZ?
In the US, there has been a sweeping backlash against DEI programmes, with the Trump administration firing DEI hires in the federal workforce and tech firms such as Meta, Amazon and Google scaling back or scrapping diversity initiatives (Apple has been a notable hold-out).
There has been a shift in emphasis here. One large tech firm, which did not want to be named, has scaled back mention of diversity initiatives in communications with potential customers in the US.
But for Satishkumar, it was recession that loomed as a larger threat to inclusion efforts.
“As budgets tighten, some companies are scaling back DEI initiatives – viewing them incorrectly as optional rather than essential,” she told the Herald.
“Unfortunately, this deprioritisation comes at a time when retaining diverse, skilled talent is more critical than ever,” she said.
“The tech sector, already grappling with a significant skills shortage, cannot afford to lose talented professionals due to these cutbacks.
“By stepping back from DEI commitments, we’re not just undermining progress toward inclusive workplaces – we’re losing exactly the kind of innovative, skilled professionals we need to successfully navigate economic uncertainty and drive future growth.”
Number of women working in tech on the up
“The tech sector is very aware of its diversity challenge,” said TechWomen executive director Yvonne Gill.
She’s well positioned to see the lie of the land. Gill also works as strategic programmes director for NZTech, an industry group whose members span from multinationals to local technology firms, to universities and banks and other large companies with big in-house tech teams.
“Research from our Digital Skills Aotearoa report shows that in 2022, the number of women working in digital technology roles had risen slightly to 29%, up from 27% in 2017,” Gill said.
“We will be rerunning this survey later this year and expect the trend of small incremental improvements to continue.”
More than 1000 young women a year now participated in TechWomen’s ShadowTech programme, which matched students with local companies for hands-on experience and inspiration, Gill said.
Government cutbacks bite
But the TechWomen head also flagged a couple of negative trends.
“It has been a very challenging time for not-for-profit organisations and charities working in the digital equity and inclusion space,” Gill said.
“The combination of government spending cuts and private-sector belt-tightening has had a significant impact on the funding landscape and last year saw a number of organisations close their doors, including OMGTech! and NanoGirl Labs.”
‘US DEI backlash will flow through’
The trust behind OMGTech!, founded by Vaughan Fergusson and Zoe Timbrell, was wound up in June, with the pair citing “a change in government priorities”, while NanoGirl Labs – which sought to draw more girls into STEM subjects at high school and ultimately into science and technology careers – went into liquidation in November.
Founder Michelle Dickinson said public and private-sector funding had dried up.
Gill said she would expect to start seeing the effects of the US DEI backlash flowing through to US-headquartered businesses’ local operations, and that would further affect the local funding environment.
Survey respondent and software engineering contractor Camy Bhandari.
Survey respondent Camy Bhandari has a successful career today as a senior software engineer contracting to large, household-name companies.
But she told the Herald it was tough when she arrived from India in 2013, as she faced racism and sexism, from her accent being mocked to “idea appropriation”.
“I’m a very motivated person. I didn’t let it hold me back,” she said. She learned how to stand up for herself and immediately call out patronising or condescending behaviour in meetings.
“But it was a struggle, not having any role models,” Bhandari said.
Since 2023, she’s been doing her part to change the culture as the organiser of two Wellington events: NZTestingConf – a conference for people working in software testing, and NZTechRally, aimed at boosting inclusion.
Bhandari – who is well placed to observe because she contracts for various companies – says there’s still much to be addressed, including some women who wall-climb over other women to get ahead.
“Women tend to be more team-focused and more community-focused,” she said.
“But some women in tech have adapted aggressive behaviours because it feels like the only way to survive.
“I’ve noticed women talking over other women who are soft-spoken.
“If an organisation doesn’t do anything, that can feel like the only way to climb up the ladder, to get a promotion. It becomes a toxic culture.”
Many organisations needed unconscious-bias training, she said.
Dr Amanda Sterling: "Investment into initiatives that support women’s careers have decreased as a result of the economic slowdown and more limited budgets." Photo / Amanda Billing
“The Tech Beyond Gender research is pretty consistent with the research from the past couple of decades on the challenges that women continue to face, particularly within male-dominated industries like tech,” said Dr Amanda Sterling, a gender equality consultant who works with organisations looking to attract and retain more women in leadership roles.
“There is a growing realisation – and frustration – among women that what we’ve been led to believe simply isn’t true. For decades, we’ve been told that we can have meaningful careers, earn as much as men, raise families – we only need to take advantage of the opportunities available to us.
“[But] what more women are starting to realise is that our limited opportunities have nothing to do with our confidence to speak up or ‘lean in’, or from our capabilities, but from persistent barriers in the form of biases, microaggression and undervaluation of our skills and experience – as evidenced in the Tech Beyond Gender Research.”
The organisations genuinely committed to improving opportunities for women – and seeing the benefits of that – “are the ones focusing on fixing their cultures rather than ‘fixing’ women,” Sterling said.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
