{"id":25242,"date":"2021-03-08T06:59:02","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T05:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sms77.io\/?p=25242"},"modified":"2023-10-12T09:42:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T07:42:17","slug":"women-in-technological-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seven.io\/en\/blog\/women-in-technological-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"The Role of Women in Technological Progress – A Series for International Women’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women in Tech \u2013 Succeeding in a world that belongs to men<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>

Today, March 8, marks International Women’s Day. On this day, women around the world are meant to be recognized for their achievements and accomplishments. It’s no secret that STEM professions (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) still have a ratio of women that is below average. Unfortunately, the tech industry is also far from being an exception. But of course they exist here, too: Women who have achieved great things.<\/p>\n

In our series of posts, we’d like to take a look at what great achievements women have accomplished in tech research and work. To do so, we will dedicate several blogposts to one woman each. Some of them have made significant contributions to scientific advances, while others are actively working to make technological careers more attractive to women. Throughout the blogposts, you’ll find resources that tell you more about how to help women succeeding in tech and STEM professions.<\/p>\n

In this first post, however, we first want to talk about the role of women in STEM and especially tech professions. In doing so, we will first take a look at the past and then look at the current state.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

Historical classification \u2013 Conventions and computers<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>

It is absolutely not the case that women in technological, scientific or IT professions are a novelty. In the past century, many women worked in technological professions, some of which have only recently come to public attention.<\/p>\n

The problem: Their achievements, if they were recognized at all in their time, were forgotten. One of the reasons for this may be that for a long time it was not the convention for women to work at all, certainly not in technological\u00a0professions. Thus, the few female scientists and workers were often regarded\u00a0to be unskilled laborers<\/a> who did the work that men did not have time for.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, in the field of computing<\/a> in particular, there were many women who, through their achievements on both a large and small scale, contributed significantly to scientific progress.<\/p>\n

Today, of course, the situation is somewhat different in terms of numbers. Female workers are still underrepresented in the workforce<\/a> overall, but at least the percentage among the total workforce in Germany is now 46.6%<\/a> (as of 2019). This figure should nevertheless be treated with caution, as women work part-time far more often than men. What is clear, however, is that it is no longer unconventional for women to pursue wage employment. However, the proportion of women is much lower, especially in STEM professions. We would now like to take a closer look at this fact.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

The current state \u2013 A slow evolution<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div>
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Before we look at the current state: It is obvious that there are big regional differences when it comes to women at work. Whether or not women are accepted in the workforce depends on, among other things, the cultural framing. However, the fact that women are underrepresented in technological jobs applies to just about every country we could find data on. Comparing international data is difficult because different factors are examined and often degrees and occupations cannot be generalized. Therefore, in this section we will focus on the situation in Germany to show the development in a European country as an example.<\/p>\n

So what is the situation in Germany? Are the government-sponsored efforts<\/a> to get women more involved in technological professions having an effect?<\/p>\n

Most studies give cause for hope \u2013 by and large, there is some progress. However, the advances are small and are developing slowly. For example, the percentage of female students\u00a0entering STEM<\/a> fields is increasing very slowly. Twenty years ago, in 2001, that percentage was at 30.8%. In 2019, however, the percentage was 34.2%. If we additionally look at the percentage of females graduating in these subjects, the number has been increasing since 2015, but it had also been decreasing for five years before that.<\/p>\n

Again, other figures emerge in the actual employment relationship. According to figures from the Federal Employment Agency (page 14)<\/a>, about 17% of employees in STEM professions were women in 2022. In technical occupations, only 14% of employees are female, while in computer science occupations the figure is 18%.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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How well-represented are women in STEM fields?
\nHere’s a sampling of statistics and reports for:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>