Upskill women to address gender imbalance in tech sector, says HP study

0 George Brasher, managing director of HP UK and Ireland A majority of UK women would be open to working in the tech sector but are held back by low self-confidence and a lack of access to training, new research indicates.

Nearly 70 per cent said they would be interested in jobs in the industry, according to a poll commissioned by IT giant HP, which last month launched a new Glasgow base.

Some 45 per cent of the 1,000 women surveyed expressed a willingness to retrain in a technical job, suggesting an opportunity to increase female representation through retraining and upskilling.

However, it found that negative associations are preventing women from pursuing tech careers. Around 25 per cent of women who didn’t study a technical subject said it was because they didn’t believe they were capable of doing so, while 32 per cent of those not in a specialist technical role disregarded a career in the field as they felt they lacked the right qualifications.

The report also indicated that raising awareness of the flexibility often available in tech roles could help achieve a better gender balance, as only one quarter of those surveyed associated this with the sector.

George Brasher, managing director of HP’S UK and Ireland division, said: “This research is encouraging as it shows there is the appetite to retrain and to reconsider tech with a greater understanding of where and how to start, and we all have a role to play to help make that happen.”

Sam Smethers, chief executive at gender equality charity Fawcett Society, also commented: “The UK’S tech sector will never lead the world if we only recruit from half the population.

“Women and girls have the capability but they don’t always see tech as being for them. We have to challenge these assumptions and change the stereotypes.”