The tech industry spoke, and the ladies listened. We’ll take a look at how women are geeking out (in the most fabulous way) and making their mark on the computer science industry this year.
(Photo Credit: Dinner Series/Flickr)
Many efforts are being made nowadays to encourage women, young and “seasoned,” to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers, which are often dominated by men. It seems that this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, women are finally leading the pack, making up 60 percent of the 39,000 new “computer systems design and related services” jobs, compared to a meager 34 percent just a year prior. Female techies didn’t just take a leap this year, they “leaned in,” broke through, and completely killed it in 2013.
PayScale’s Gender Wage Gap Report shows that women and men actually earn nearly the same amount, provided that you’re comparing identical qualifications, experience, and job titles. Although the numbers show that women are making similar salaries as men, women still make less than men on the whole, because they tend to choose jobs that pay less.
In the Worst Job Types for Female Bosses report, PayScale shows how women are underrepresented in high-paying tech professions such as engineering, electronics, computer science, and architecture. The report also shows that women tend to dominate the education, nursing, psychology, and insurance (claims and processing) industries, which, on average, have lower earning potential than the male-dominant industries listed above. Although women are closing the gender wage gap in specific professions, men collectively earn more than the opposite sex due to the higher paying positions they tend to pursue. Despite the slight difference in average pay for each gender, let’s not forget what’s important here — that women in tech accomplished something amazing this year.
Luckily, women aren’t giving up that easily. Continuous efforts are being made to eliminate the gender disparities in the tech industry through many female-oriented organizations such as these:
Code.org – A non-profit dedicated to growing computer science education in schools and especially for women and minorities.
Girls Who Code: An organization that focuses its efforts on educating, inspiring, and equipping young girls for careers in computing fields.
Tech Girlz: A non-profit aimed at empowering young ladies to become the future tech leaders of the world.
Women in Technology: A professional association for women in technology that offers its members support, programs, and resources to advance women from the classroom to the boardroom.
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that there will be more than 1.4 million computing-related jobs by 2020, but only 30 percent will be filled at the current rate of tech graduates. Therefore, we need to continue to educate, empower, and prepare young women to pursue tech careers because, as the numbers show, there will be plenty of these high-earning, promising tech positions available in the near future that need to be filled. More on that, here.
Tell Us What You Think
Are you a woman in tech that wants to lend some advice to the younger generation of female tech hopefuls? Share your thoughts on Twitter or in the comments below.
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