Outnumbered and victims of sexism: Women in the digital sector face many challenges. A Global Contact survey indicates both positive and negative developments in the sector.
Women are still underrepresented in the digital sector. The proportion of female graduates working in this field has risen painfully to 17%, according to a survey by the company Global Contact, reported by madness† However, this is better than in 2018, when it was only 12%. France is starting to catch up with its neighbors, notes the report’s author, Claudine Schmuck. Another good news, the number of female graduates in France has increased by 33% between 2013 and 2019.
In detail, certain professions seem to be more popular with women: for example, technical jobs increased by 5% between 2011 and 2019. However, this is less than in Europe, where the increase is 16%.
In high-tech manufacturing occupations, the proportion of women decreased by 14% between 2011 and 2019. According to Claudine Schmuck, this corresponds to a “global failure” of the sector in France, reports madness†
Wider gaps
Since the health crisis, the gap between women and men in the digital sector has widened. For example, women’s sense of work-life balance decreased by 19%. It has remained “relatively stable” among their male counterparts. The fault is the lack of telecommuting supervision and support with childcare issues, the study author specifies.
Finally, almost half of digital women (46%) indicate that they have been victims of sexist behavior since the start of their career: discriminatory comments, sexual harassment for example.
Undoubtedly, if this sector of the future is to promote diversity and co-education, practices promoting access to women and raising awareness against sexism must be strengthened. At the risk of continuing towards a biased view of digital.