While we’ve made huge strides toward gender equity in the workplace over the past few decades, women continue to represent just 25% of workers in the tech industry. Only 19% of jobs in software development, computer engineering, and data science are performed by women.
To make matters worse, women who want to open a tech startup are up to ten times less likely than male-owne companies to get funding. This is all despite the act that companies that have management teams with adequate gender diversity are 21% more likely to achieve above industry-average financial performance.
Luckily companies have the opportunity to change these numbers for the better, especially when it comes to software firms that work with remote devs. Below are some of the many advantages to investing in gender equity and more inclusive recruitment strategies that your company can use to achieve it.
Why is it important to promote gender equity on software development teams?
Making an active effort to decrease the gender gap in tech isn’t just important from an ethical standpoint. It also makes companies more competitive and promotes socio economic development in regions where women can access more egalitarian opportunities.
Major corporations like Salesforce, Intel, Microsoft, and Etsy have put forth significant effort into closing the gender wage gap, increasing the number of women hired, promoting training, and putting more women in leadership and specialization roles.
A few advantages of hiring more female developers are:
- It reduces talent shortages: including more women in the tech industry can mitigate the lack of qualified talent that many companies believe exists.
- Promotes innovation: studies have shown that diversity on work teams fosters different perspectives, abilities, and experiences that help improve problem-solving in a creative and effective way.
- Increases profitability: Companies that have more gender-diverse teams are up to 21% more likely to produce profits that are above the industry average.
- Diversity improves company image: companies that promote diversity and inclusion tend to have a better reputation and promote higher job satisfaction. As a result, their turnover-related costs decrease significantly.
How can I build a more equitable and diverse dev team?
Contrary to what stereotypes might make you believe, software development is a field that women shine in. This is not only because of their programming skills but also due to their ability to work on teams and solve problems effectively.
Building more equitable and diverse development teams isn’t always easy, but there are a few strategies you can put into practice to make it easier to do:
1.- Promote diversity during the recruitment stages
This means establishing hiring policies and practices that guarantee that all candidates are considered and evaluated fairly, regardless of their sex, gender, orientation, or any other characteristic that’s unrelated to their ability to do their job.
2.- Create an inclusive work environment
We need to ask ourselves if all the members of our team realy feel safe, heard, recognized, and respected as equals. One way to do this is to offer diversity and inclusion training to educate collaborators and team leaders on gender-based prejudices and how to eliminate them.
3.- Prioritize collaborator training and certification
It’s no secret that women in tech generally have fewer career opportunities than male developers. Giving female developers preferential access to training courses and certifications that allow them to continue to grow is a great way to take another step toward gender equality in STEM.
4.- Promote female leadership and mentorship
Women in tech often have few role models at their workplaces. Motivating your best female developers and collaborators to take active leadership roles is a great way to recognize and promote talent.
5.- Make your work policies more flexible
Unfortunately, family obligations and a lack of adequate support in the workplace can force many talented women in tech to have their careers take a back seat. Flexible schedules, remote work, maternity leave, and other policies can help women to achieve their desired work-life balance.
6.- Hire female Latin American devs
The gender gap in tech exists everywhere, but it’s a lot more prevalent in developing regions where women have to work twice or three times as hard to get the same benefits as men. If you want to make a bigger difference, expand your horizons and make the most of the talent and commitment that Latina devs bring to the table.
At Workana, you’ll find one of the largest pools of software developers and experts in tech and data science. Our professionals have all the skills and technical qualifications that you’re looking for. What’s more, you can find plenty of candidates who speak your language and work in the same time zone that you do.
When you sign up for our seven-day risk-free trial, you can see the candidates’ work for yourself and make sure that you’re hiring the best people for the job. So let’s get started! Our experts are ready to find the most qualified candidates and introduce them to you in record time.
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