Tech Talent Charter calls for gender equality

Technology is rapidly becoming one of the most important aspects of day-to-day life, and our reliance on the potential it offers is increasing as innovation continues.

“A digital gender divide is unacceptable, which is why we are working with industry to ensure that everyone has access to the exciting employment opportunities within our tech sector.”

It is incredibly concerning, then, that there has proven to be a severe imbalance in the gender representation within this emerging sector; just 17% of tech and IT workers in the UK are female.

To put it another way, that means that 83% of those working in UK tech are male, thus proving that it is undeniably a male-dominated industry.

“The Charter requires signatories to have attraction, recruitment, and retention practices that are designed to increase the diversity of their workforce and to measure and share the diversity profile of their UK employees for collective publication.”

However, as the need for tech-savvy workers relentlessly grows, it has been predicted that the UK will need to find and employ at least one million more tech workers by 2020 alone.

As an attempt to bridge both the gender inequality, as well as the skills gap that is becoming ever more noticeable, the Tech Talent Charter has been launched—subsequently backed and supported by the government.

“We welcome AAT as signatories, but would like many more to pledge their support for the Tech Talent Charter to join us on our exciting journey.”

The Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) is the first professional accountancy body to sign the Charter. The body has a strong history when it comes to supporting women in the accountancy industry. For example: they published their gender pay gap data before it became a legal requirement to do so, they were the first accountancy body to sign the Women in Finance Charter, and they have regularly engaged with policymakers on issues relating to gender equality.

“Britain needs a more diverse, inclusive, fairer, and commercially successful tech workforce, and AAT is pleased to play a part in helping to achieve this,” said Olivia Hill, AAT’s chief HR officer. “We would like to see other professional bodies sign up, and for accountants of all shapes and sizes to give this some consideration, too. Together we can make a real difference.”

“It is vital for the industry to come together as a whole to do more to show females that a career in technology is incredibly rewarding: to increase the number of females working within the industry, to attract people who are considering a career change, and to encourage younger generations to consider these careers from the word go.”

According to AAT: “The Charter requires signatories to have attraction, recruitment, and retention practices that are designed to increase the diversity of their workforce and to measure and share the diversity profile of their UK employees for collective publication.”

Debbie Forster, Tech Talent Charter chief executive, said: “It is vital for the industry to come together as a whole to show females that a career in technology is incredibly rewarding: to increase the number of females working within the industry, to attract people who are considering a career change, and to encourage younger generations to consider these careers from the word go.

“We welcome AAT as signatories, but would like many more to pledge their support for the Tech Talent Charter to join us on our exciting journey.”

“A digital gender divide is unacceptable, which is why we are working with industry to ensure that everyone has access to the exciting employment opportunities within our tech sector,” Margot James MP, minister for digital and creative industries at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), added.

She concluded: “To make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business, we need the right workforce, and it is great to see more organisations like AAT sign up to the Tech Talent Charter and improve diversity.”

To find out more about the Tech Talent Charter, click here.

 What are your thoughts on diversity in technology? Do you think there’s an imbalance in gender representation in the financial sector more broadly?

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