New guide to tech gender equality
As part of its efforts to equalize the proportion of women and men in technology-related management roles in tech by 2030 at the latest, IT&Telecomföretagen is preparing a digital guide for how responsible roles at tech companies should act in gender-critical situations. A first text version has been produced for member companies, as well as other stakeholders with an interest in the issues, to comment on.
Tech companies share a common problem in that too few women apply for, and hold, technology-related management roles in the companies. They do not have access to the range of skills available. A long series of reports, seminars and workshops have highlighted the problem (including the workshop "Tech women, get your voices heard" in the fall of 2019 and the Allbright report "Tech lives the grabber myth" in 2020), where additional efforts alongside what is already being done (e.g. Womentor) are called for in areas such as work environment and corporate culture issues.
Cross-sectoral objectives to reach the 2030 target
By working at company level, from a strictly business perspective, towards the goal of increasing access to relevant skills, companies are helping to solve the common problem. The industry-wide target is to achieve at least a 60-40 split in technology-related leadership roles, which include both managerial and business-critical technical expert roles, by 2030.
To help companies achieve this goal, IT&Telecom companies are developing an industry-wide digital guide. A version 1.0 in pdf format has been developed that will serve as input to the digital guide. The digital guide will be used and developed gradually up to the target year 2030. Its digital form enables an evaluation of how the companies using the guide as a group succeed in achieving the goals.
New guide to tech gender equality
The core of the guide is to highlight best practices in the form of concrete situations, carried out by designated roles (CEOs, managers, HR/recruitment officers, etc.), which lead to effects that contribute to the business goal of increased access to relevant skills. Three types of effects are sought: Increased number of women who remain ("Retain"), increased proportion of women in technology-related management roles and increased number of female applicants for tech positions.
The text version has been developed by the IT&Telecom Companies' IT Competence Council, with a working group including representatives from Atea, Digitalent, Hogia, Nexer Group and TietoEvry.
Comments on the guide are welcome to the project manager Fredrik von Essen, who can be reached at fredrik.vonessen@techsverige.se or 070-612 70 57.