IT Industry Needs to Include More Black Women: Report Says

In the UK, the tech industry is "missing" up to 20,000 black women, claim a campaign group and a representation organization in a joint report. According to the survey, there are 2.5 times fewer black women working in IT than there are in the entire UK labor force. Additionally, an advocacy organization called Coding Black Females claimed that the computer industry "desperately needed" more employees from diverse backgrounds. Also, organizations in the industry agree that "more must be done" to foster diversity. According to the authors of the Coding Black Females (CBF) and BCS report, who examined data from the Office of National Statistics, black women made up 1.8% of the workforce in the UK but only 0.7% of those employed in technology. Hence, to close the gap, the IT sector needs to hire 20,000 more black women in addition to the 12,000 who presently work in IT. In addition, it claimed that women are underrepresented in top leadership positions as well. Only 17% of IT directors were female in 2021, the survey states. According to the study, the fact that ethnic-minority representation is higher overall among IT professionals than in the general population is partly attributable to the significant number of Indian-born tech workers. Furthermore, through surveys and in-depth interviews, the writers also aimed to shed light on black women's experiences in the field.

More details on the study

The report asked 350 black women to tell them about their experiences. Software engineer Siba Munsanje of Deloitte said the following to researchers, "You have to get used to knowing that you are the only one in the room on the team, in the project, at the conference. Sometimes it can become a bit challenging. Sometimes... you can see people tiptoeing around you a little bit or making sad jokes - it's those little things that you have to put up with." Head of quality engineering at the artificial intelligence software company Adarga in the UK, Nicola Martin, stated, "Now stats are being published related to diversity in tech, we can see there is still a lot of work to do. The tech industry needs to encourage more diversity to ensure that people want to stay in the industry." Also, according to respondents, companies can do more to support black female applicants, including outreach efforts in relevant communities to increase knowledge of opportunities. Additionally, women claimed that applicants would be put off by the interview procedure and working culture. The "tech bro" mentality, according to one respondent included in the paper, is draining.

What's more

According to Charlene Hunter, chief executive of CBF, there are still obstacles for women to overcome to obtain employment in the technology industry. "You hear often stories of people applying for roles and not really being given any actual feedback. You know you meet all of the criteria, but something doesn't quite feel right." Also, Read- ‘Black Adam’ star Sarah Shahi opens up about new roles and romance: ‘I’m crazy in love’ However, the difference was not simply in the number of people employed, but also in their chances to advance their professions. "We nee2 Women In the W2 Women In the Wd senior leaders to match the large numbers of black women currently appearing in tech and engineering adverts, with genuine opportunities to progress into rewarding jobs," according to Ms. Hunter. She focused in especially on the advancement of artificial intelligence, raising concerns that these systems might be biased towards particular racial and gender groups. On another note, a more diverse senior leadership would make it easier to "incorporate bias in every part of your design process." Also, Read- Failed to scan all items at self-checkout, Michigan women arrested "We will only be able to build the systems that serve everyone if the diversity of humanity is represented in the project teams that design and build these systems," said Rashik Parmar, chief executive of the BCS, the professional body for computing. And while efforts are being made to promote inclusion and diversity in the ICT profession, Nimmi Patel of trade group Tech UK stated that "clearly more must be done." She said, "Both industry and government should work together to inspire, educate, and attract diverse talent to ensure black women - and women in general - enter and progress through the industry."