Women seeking new roles seek equal opportunities for advancement

According to Skillsoft, almost 40% of women in tech careers in EMEA are considering changing roles in the next year.

And of those who are considering a role change, more than a third are doing so because they are looking for more equitable career opportunities.

“Despite organizations’ efforts to place greater priority on diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, our research shows that the gender gap remains wide, and significant work is needed to achieve true equality at all levels,” Orla Daly, chief information officer at Skillsoft.

“Women in technology are demanding more opportunities to advance their careers through leadership development, technical training, coaching and mentoring. Meanwhile, organizations are facing a critical need for technology and leadership competencies This presents an opportunity for mutual growth that helps organizations thrive and empowers women to increase their impact by filling these critical gaps.

Skillsoft asked 1,321 women worldwide, 274 of whom were in EMEA, what challenges they faced when pursuing a technology career. In response, 33% said there is a lack of equal opportunities for advancement.

While 43% of women in technical roles in EMEA are not looking to switch employers, 38% would be interested in a new role, in many cases because they do not feel equal to their male counterparts when it comes to promotion and pay opportunities comes.

Nearly 30% said they were considering a new role because of a lack of professional development, and 10% because of a lack of diversity and inclusion (D&I) – although a higher proportion (19%) said they His employers were not impressed with the D&I initiative.

When it came to tech-related careers, more than half of women said poor leadership and management was a challenge they faced when trying to get into tech, and 40% cited a lack of training and development opportunities as a difficulty. Told in

But attracting women in technology is only half the battle. Retaining diverse talent is just as important for firms that aim to increase diversity in their tech teams and a large number of women who want to stay with their current employer – more than half are happy with their benefits package and nearly 80% are happy with their level of job security.

Flexible working hours were one of the most important benefits for women in tech, with 66% seeing this as an extremely important part of their role, as was remote and hybrid working. In addition, 56% of respondents said that opportunities for professional development and career training were extremely important to them.

But while nearly 20% of women who answered the survey held roles in HR or learning development, working at technology companies, only 4% claimed to be in software development.

The technology sector still outnumbers men, with the BCS reporting in 2019 that there were 249,000 women working in UK technology, accounting for 17% of IT specialists in the sector.

Skillsoft found that for the 35% of women who responded to the survey, men outnumbered women within their organization by more than 4:1. Only 14% said there were more women than men in their organization, with 11% saying the gender split was half and half.

Ongoing professional development and training was the most commonly suggested approach to women in technology, believing organizations could increase gender balance in this area, followed by offering benefits that specifically cater to families. We do.

Offering more coaching and mentoring opportunities to women in tech was also cited as an important step in encouraging more women into the technology field.