But once women and gender minorities got into their 30s, training, networking and mentoring opportunities could be harder to access than male colleagues. “And if you do get to a conference, there are few opportunities for women to present.”
The net result was that there were few female candidates for senior tech roles like principal engineer or solution architect. “We have to stop the leaky pipe,” she said.
There needed to be sensitivity training, and organisations had to stop being shy of discussing the issue, she said. There also needed to be more mentoring and training opportunities for women and gender minorities.
Challenges, but improving
A major survey of New Zealand’s tech workforce, carried out by MBIE and NZTech in the midst of the pandemic, found major diversity challenges.
Only 27 per cent of the IT workforce is female, only 4 per cent Māori, and only 2.8 per cent Pacific people. A restricted pool of candidates was exacerbating a skills squeeze.
Some areas of tech are particularly challenged. A 2023 NZ Game Developers Association member survey found video game makers had just 22 per cent female staff.
This week, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller - whose organisation counts most tech firms in New Zealand among its members - said “the tech sector is very aware of its diversity challenge”.
Things were heading in the right direction. “Back at the turn of the century it was estimated that only 20 per cent of the tech workforce were female. By 2017 this had improved to 27 per cent of the workforce, and the 2022 survey saw a further improvement to 29 per cent.”
Muller said efforts to monitor and improve diversity had been ramped up.
NZTech has created an equity, diversity and inclusion board, which is helping tech firms assess their current environment so they can actively work on improvements.
“The sector also struggles with diversity from a Māori and Pacific peoples perspective and fortunately a number of great initiatives have emerged which are making a positive change, including Te Matarau, Te Hapori Matihiko, Sisters in Tech and Fibre Fale,” Muller said.
NZTech is also undertaking research with Unlock Innovation on the opportunities and challenges for the neurodiverse in tech.
“Ultimately, this is a large complex problem that needs to change, but it is exciting to see so many people doing so many positive things to help create a better tech sector for all New Zealanders,” Muller said.
More women, more profit
TechWomen executive director Yvonne Gill said Satishkumar’s research was “a really useful addition to the understanding of the challenge”.
Her group, whose executive team is drawn from AWS, Datacom, Microsoft and others, holds an annual ShadowTech day for young girls to spend a day with Tech Women to see first-hand what a tech role is like. To support women already in tech roles, it runs a large mentoring programme.
Shadowing
“The TechWomen community now consists of almost 1000 women and men who are doing their part to help make the tech sector better for everyone,” Gill said.
“We have more than 900 young women each year take part in ShadowTech to be inspired to study for a tech career, so it is vitally important that we continue to work on improvements at a company level so when they arrive they have a great experience.”
TechWomen also runs a programme called Mentoring Circles for experienced tech women to help each other, and help their companies improve diversity.
“Our next mission is to show the economic benefit from a more diverse tech team to create even more motivation for change,” Gill said.
“Internationally it is estimated that firms with gender balance in their senior teams are 42 per cent more profitable.”
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.
