What Must Change to Have More Women in Tech?

For the past 18 years, my research as a media ethnographer has taken me into intimate spaces of homes around Asia. From speaking to families about their experiences with technology, I am convinced that women should be given every opportunity to shape technology and design so that these work better for society.

WOMEN ARE CREATIVE

For example, I know of a mother in Singapore who always keeps her iPad battery no more than 10% charged so that her toddler will move on to other toys with no tantrums and tears when the battery runs flat. This nifty parenting hack saves her considerable grief, energy and time, and demonstrates a great combination of empathy, creativity and practicality. For these very reasons, start-up incubators that invest in and mentor female innovators should be launched to nurture women’s creative and entrepreneurial energies.

WOMEN HAVE PEOPLE SKILLS

I also vividly recall speaking to a mother in Seoul who used text messaging to mediate a dispute between her husband and daughter. Her clever use of technology helped her husband to ‘save face’, thus making him more amenable to apologising and making up with their daughter. In addition, it exemplifies the socio-emotional intelligence women possess – self-awareness, compassion and social skills vital for understanding people, interpreting difficult situations, and resolving conflicting goals.

WOMEN ARE EFFICIENT

Then, every now and then, I meet mothers who juggle home and work flawlessly by running their homes as they do their organisations, with a great deal of care, organisation and attention to detail. Indeed, I always marvel at how organised, proactive and meticulous women can be.

WOMEN OFFER AN IMPORTANT PERSPECTIVE

It’s no coincidence that I share examples of women performing roles and responsibilities in the home because it is a fact that up to today, women bear a disproportionate share of the caregiving duties at home, be it looking after the elderly or nurturing the young. Women’s perspectives are therefore essential if we are looking to improve the performance of these critical duties with tech innovations.

WOMEN MOTIVATE OTHER WOMEN

Since there are distinct advantages to greater gender diversity across all industries, including the tech sector, how then can we better support women so that the male-dominated tech sector is more inclusive?

To begin with, women in tech numbers are not sizeable and attrition rises sharply during pregnancy and child-rearing. Furthermore, returning to work is especially daunting for a fast-moving sector like tech, as one’s skills become quickly outdated. In the long run, this attrition translates into a pipeline issue. With few women rising to the top, there are insufficient female role models for young women in the tech sector. Consequently, young women are discouraged from joining the sector or, doubtful about their future prospects, leave prematurely.

WOMEN REQUIRE BETTER SUPPORT

To address this issue, we need to provide better support for women who take leave for pregnancy, child-rearing or eldercare. While companies can introduce more flexible working arrangements and better childcare support, professional societies can also offer discounted membership and systematic mentoring to women on caregiving leave to help them maintain their professional networks and better transition back to work after a period of absence.

More importantly, we must shift the societal norm towards greater male involvement in caregiving duties. Unless fathers are also granted paternity leave, the childcare burden will always fall on mothers and assumed to be responsibilities of women. Concurrently, more research tracking the career trajectories of women in various industries is necessary to better understand reasons for attrition, and factors that can promote re-entry into the workforce. It is only with robust evidence that we will be able to take more proactive measures to ameliorate this problem of female underrepresentation.

WOMEN CAN CONTRIBUTE TO A BRIGHTER FUTURE

To make technology work better for society, we need women on board so that we can benefit from their distinctive insights and talents. But unless and until we introduce the fundamental changes spelt out above, women can never fully participate in the workforce and society would be the poorer for it. Let’s make a collective effort at initiating change for a brighter and more inclusive future.

What Does It Take to Go from His/Her World to Our World?

It is no secret that the tech industry has largely been a man’s world until now. Recent efforts to create a more gender diverse industry has sparked interest among policymakers, companies, men and women to encourage more women participation in the industry. But how close are we to making it “our world”?

NAME: Women

WHERE CAN YOU FIND THEM? This particular one – at Razer.

WHAT’S SHE DOING THERE? She’s a Chief of Staff and Board Member in Razer, responsible for e-commerce, customer service, human resource, information technology and management of their 17 offices worldwide. It accounts for over four years of her 25-year-long career in the tech industry.