NUMEROLOGY

For many women, working in the tech sector still doesn't compute

56%

That's the mid-career quit rate for women in the lucrative computer technology sector—the highest across the sciences and more than double the rate for men. As March brings the 118th International Women's Day, female representation has risen in all Canadian STEM careers except computer science, which has seen a 17 per cent decline since 1991. “The tech sector is where young women are fighting the good fight in terms of leadership, and we're not seeing anything close to parity,” says Samantha Jo Simmonds of B.C. women's leadership advocacy group the Minerva Foundation, which is launching a study this year to learn more about women in the province's tech sector. “It's wearing for women to be the only female voice on the floor, and I think that's part of why they're leaving.”

22%

How much more likely Canadian men with high Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) math scores are to choose a science or technology career than women with equally high scores

35%

Pay premium in the tech sector versus the average Canadian wage

2,560

Number of Vancouver women who have participated in a Ladies Learning Code techskills workshop since the chapter was founded in 2012