Gender bias remains an issue for tech firms around the world

Study shows 73% of female digital professionals believe the industry isn’t representative

New research has shown that nearly three-quarters of women working in tech believe a gender bias still exists.

The stats, published alongside a series of striking images to highlight them, come ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8th. The event is an annual celebration of the contribution women have made to the world we live in—however, cloud talent firm Revolent believes there is still a way to go to find true gender balance in the tech industry.

They discovered that only 19.2% of CIOs in Fortune 500 companies identify as female, and many other alarming statistics from those working across several tech communities. For example, one survey of Salesforce professionals revealed that 73%–that’s just under three quarters—of women believe that gender inequality exists in the industry.

With a digital skills gap on the brink of becoming a crisis, it makes for uncomfortable reading when research has also shown that championing diversity and inclusion could help retain 1.4 million women in tech by 2030.

“It’s incredible to see the power that our actions can have as a collective,” said Nabila Salem, President at Revolent. “But, despite all the amazing strides that have and continue to be made, there is clearly a long way to go. And while organisations need to pull their socks up and take action in order to shift the dial in the right direction, it’s clear that every single person in the tech community has a part to play in helping the industry to level up.”

The company has urged people to get involved with their #BreakTheBias campaign that will run alongside International Women’s Day, to show the importance of individuals also highlighting that they are behind the message, which has full backing from a range of figures within the tech industry including Salesforce Hall of Fame MVP Eric Dreshfield.

He said: “Those of us who are not directly victimised by this have a responsibility to support those who are, by showing up, speaking up, and taking action to help right the wrongs as well as providing educational opportunities to all in order to lessen future occurrences.”

Further information on the campaign, including a full breakdown of the statistics and accompanying images, as well as more insight and actionable advice from tech thought leaders, are available from Revolent’s website.

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