What do the stats say?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Technological advancements are expected to support strong employment growth in professional, business, and scientific services industries, including computer systems design and related services between 2020-2030. But the gender gaps are high in these fast and high-paid jobs as shown in Figure 1.

Figure1: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Occupations [1]

According to the global gender gap report 2021, Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world. The Middle East and North Africa region remains the area with the largest gap (60.9%). At the current relative pace, gender gaps can potentially be closed in South Asia (62.3%) in 195.4 years. Pandemic has halted progress toward gender parity in several economies and industries as women have additional pressures of providing care in the home.

For example, the current share of women in Cloud Computing is 14.2% and that figure has only improved by 0.2 percentage points, while the share of women in Data and AI roles is 32.4% and that figure has seen a mild decline of 0.1 percentage points since February 2018.  India has fallen 28 places in the ranking and the share of women in professional and technical roles declined further to 29.2% [1]. While things seem to get better, but still support is required to address this as this gap is not going to close on its own. IBM is a good example as it is engaging women in tech by changing its approach towards reinventing education and bringing policies for women reentry.

Indicators of Women Empowerment

Women usually opted to choose more flexible work, which may be part-time and closer to home, because they need to take care of their families. Though there are other factors too that contribute to this one can easily identify women empowerment by assessing the following points [2]:

• Household Decision-Making Power
• Gender Attitude and Beliefs
• Physical Mobility
• Control over Resources
• Relative Freedom from Domination by the Family

To close that gap, there is a great need to organize effective programs to promote women’s economic participation, entrepreneurship, farming, wage employment, and young women’s employment. It will help in Poverty Reduction, Overall Wellbeing of Society, Crime Reduction and promotes equality in all professions[3]

Organizations working to promote Gender Equality

Beyond the negative effects of the pandemic, organizations can take steps to make a positive impact on women’s futures by putting policies, mentorship programs in place. There is a list of organizations that are fighting for gender equality as mentioned in [2] like The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), Womankind Worldwide, Center for Reproductive Rights, etc.

Being a software professional, one needs to get familiar with the companies as listed in Table 1 that invested in employee’s success and also ensures women in their workplace are set up for career growth from the very beginning.

Table 1: Major Companies Invested in Success of women [4]

Company Name	Policies
Abbott	Focuses on a structured year-long mentorship program for women
Aramark	Offers business resource network for women employees.
Avanade	OffersSTEM Scholarship for young women.
Bank of America	The company rebuilt its practices from the ground up, starting with mandatory diverse hiring guidelines and takes investing in women
Citrix	Supports female college students, and sponsor their Summer Immersion program for high school girls.
Cognizant	Encourages technical events, dinners, forums, and even a book club, all specifically designed to bring women together and provide insight into the workplace.
Facebook	Has resource group for women to gain additional professional development opportunities and launch their careers.
Medtronic	Increases hiring, promotion, mentorship, and support for female employees.
Nestle	Recently completes its goal of improving the lives of women workers at its food sourcing locations. Now, working toward achieving equal pay for all employees.
Pfizer	The company’s outstanding portfolio of programs helps to unlock the full potential of its female employees.
Visa	Encourages and supports women re-entering the workforce and creating a workplace with equal opportunities and equal pay.

AgBe too creates the conditions for gender diversity a priority through mentorship and by putting policies for women in place. It also encourages women re-entry to the team after taking time off to have a family. It provides equity and fulfillment for women.

References

1. https://www.weforum.org/reports/ab6795a1-960c-42b2-b3d5-587eccda6023
2. https://www.humanrightscareers.com/magazine/organizations-gender-equality/
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2021/04/18/women-and-the-pandemic-serious-damage-to-work-health-and-home-demands-response/?sh=733e519c1f49
4. https://ripplematch.com/journal/article/companies-invested-in-the-success-of-women-at-work-d819cb0b/