February 11th is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and this year marks its eight year anniversary. On this day, its important to remember womens achievements in science and understand how championing young girls in STEM careers can change the future. We asked Tech She Cans co-CEOs Sheridan Ash MBE and Dr Claire Thorne about how they are elevating women and girls in the tech space. “If you had as many women in tech as men, you would not have a skills shortage” are the words co-CEO of Tech She Can, Sheridan Ash, used to simply put their solution to the tech industry’s most prominent problem. A recent study by McKinsey found that only 37% of workers in the tech industry in Europe are women, which drops to 22% for tech roles. To change the ratio, Tech She Can is on a mission to teach young women and girls what it means to work in the tech industry by engaging them as early as age five and providing apprenticeships to women of all backgrounds to consider a career path in tech. Supported by over 250 member organisations , they provide free educational resources to schools, train volunteers from the members  to become tech champions and provide women friendly apprenticeships. Their most recent achievements include reaching over 13,000 children in schools across the UK in one day, receiving over a million pounds in ‘surplus levy’ by strategic partners to fund tech apprenticeships, and training over 400 tech champions to deliver lessons in schools.

Different paths lead to the same mission

Today, Tech She Can is part of the progress in paving the way for women to pursue STEM careers. Though when Claire and Sheridan were starting out, they say career advice wasn’t exactly progressive. Sheridan says, “My careers advice was – and I can literally quote it – Oh, you’re really pretty, so you should just get a rich husband.” As a young woman with dyslexia, Sheridan says she struggled in school. So, despite her love of Physics, she went on to become a fashion model. “That was actually a really positive experience. I had a great time and travelled the world between the ages 16 to early 20s”. When she wanted to do something different for the long-term, she went onto study Psychological Sciences. Eventually, she pursued an MBA at Imperial College Business School, which led her to focus on technology and innovation. Claire says she was always interested in STEM, so she pursued the academic route and studied towards a PhD in Physics. However, looking back, she says a trip to her father’s workplace, who was a telecoms engineer, has been a milestone in her path. “When I was in secondary school, there was a ‘Take Your Daughter to Work Day’, which was a national scheme in the late 80s, early 90s. My home economics teacher took me and a group of girls to my dad’s workplace and it totally transformed our paths, because we thought it was something that we might be able to consider.” This later inspired the idea of Career Insight Days that Tech She Can now organises, where girls visit partner organisations. Reflecting on the similarities in their stories, Claire says that for both, there were moments and conversations that brought change and opened new perspectives. “It might be an employer or a good friend, in some way, they have championed you. And for me I’ve probably got four or five, and they all happen to be men and they are great examples of allies in this space. But I couldn’t point to a single female role model. And that’s the sort of thing that we’re trying to change.” And role models are a significant part of the change. CWJobs found that 60% of women in STEM have been inspired by a role model compared to 46% of men.

Building a community and support network for women in tech

Attracting women into the tech industry is a challenge, and making sure they stay in tech is another. That’s why Tech She Can holds networking events and provides apprenticeships for upskillers, returners, career switchers and senior leaders. Their aim is to grow a community of female role models that support and influence each other. Sheridan says, “When people ask me to talk about my champions, up until a few years ago, it was literally 100% men and good for them! I’ve had some amazing male allies that have pointed me in the right direction. Now I have my Tech She Can community, which has so many inspiring women who support each other. We coach each other, help each other along the road, but also up the ladder.” To keep women in the industry and make sure they advance in their careers, Tech She Can is working towards a ‘zero-waste levy’ model for apprenticeships where they ask their partners to donate their surplus levy to fund tech apprenticeships for other organisations, including SMEs and charities. Claire says, “There are these small changes that we could do collectively as a community that make a big difference and redistributing that pot is one of those things.” Sheridan adds, “But we want to do more. That’s like thinking, how do we make sure that women that have children get paid while they’re doing these apprenticeships and can have the right childcare facilities in the holidays when they are doing these apprenticeships?”

Retaining women in tech and encouraging them to pursue leadership roles

Research shows that over half of women leave the tech industry at the midpoint stage of their careers, which means fewer women reach leadership roles. Part of the reason is the caring responsibilities women take on after having children and going on maternity leave. Sheridan says, “You’re always going to, as I call it, have the mummy tax as soon as you take maternity leave. A lot of companies are doing fantastic things about that, we’ve got some great legislation around it to protect women. But ultimately if you have two children, you take two years out. A lot can change in two years, and a lot of women then come back part time.” When it comes to solutions to mitigate against the retention problem, Sheridan says change needs to be implemented by both the organisations and on the policy-level – such as;

• Providing an equal opportunity for both parents to take on the caring duties, such as mandatory paternity leave.
• Promoting women while they are on maternity leave if they have been in the promotion cycle and are ready for the promotion.
• Training and upskilling women when they come back from maternity leave, so they feel confident stepping into their role.
• Making sure part-time employees can advance in their roles as much as full-time employees.

There is also a need for a culture shift. When speaking from experience, Sheridan says “One of the things I really object to, and I think it happens to women a lot, is you don’t always get the best access to the best projects and the best jobs. Because I was single mom, it was assumed that I wouldn’t want to get a job where I had to travel and things like that. And unless you sort of fight that or put yourself forward, you don’t progress.” Adding that men are also part of the solution when it comes to changing the culture, Claire says:

• Learn about our Early Careers research to discover and develop young talent
• Gender neutralise job descriptions to encourage more applications with Gender Bias Decoder
• Learn how employers can champion Black ad South Asian women throughout their careers