IT and tech have traditionally been a male-dominated industry. This certainly isn’t down to a lack of female talent, rather the fact that historically such industries have always been led by men. As women we must admit that in our younger years, it’s quite uncommon to be influenced by our parents or teachers to pursue a career in tech or IT. This ordinarily means that as we grow up, and become more exposed to the working world, we are phased by the industry due to lack of exposure to it in our formative years.
From a personal perspective, being a woman in a ‘man’s world’ has never really been a struggle. Despite that, it’s no secret that the majority of key decision makers I deal with, remain men. However, from a creative and emotional stand-point – I believe that there’s no denying that women bring a lot to the industry, including their natural finesse which makes them more cognizant of other individuals’ needs. A team of male engineers, for instance, would always benefit from having a woman present to act as the ‘glue’ in any operation.
The Trust Radius 2021 Women in Tech Report, which surveyed over 450 tech workers raises key concerns by women in tech. Women reported they felt the need to put in more effort than their male counterparts in order to show their worth. In the meantime, women in IT feel that gender discrimination will be a barrier towards progress in 2021.
We’re making some great strides as we proceed. For example, 23,000 Emirati businesswomen are running projects worth AED50 billion in the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, women’s participation rate in the IT sector rose from 11 percent in 2017 to 24 percent in 2021 higher than Silicon Valley by 8 percent. This is something that would have thought impossible just a few years ago, and I am inevitably proud to see it happen while I navigate the industry myself.
The astonishing rise in women taking scientific subjects in Saudi universities gives women across the country a push to explore different career paths. Dr. Hala Al-Tuwaijri, head of G20 Women’s Empowerment team, said that during the Kingdom’s presidency, Saudi Arabia had three central focuses: human empowerment, the earth’s sustainability and implementing new horizons, but women’s empowerment is at the core of them all.
“After a recent surge in spending on women’s training, Saudi women currently make up 40 percent of digital entrepreneurs,” Tuwaijri added.
The Kingdom aims to increase women’s participation in the labour market. In efforts to make this feasible, MCIT has developed an integrated program to empower women in the communications and IT sector. Deemah, a leading woman in Saudi Arabia’s tech industry, has already set foot in crafting such programs: The “Women Spark” initiative has assisted countless young women in acquiring the skills they need to succeed in the industry. With such initiatives emerging, I strongly feel that women have a higher potential to succeed faster.
From my knowledge, I believe there is immense talent amongst female graduates in IT – last year 64 percent of Saudi Arabia’s IT graduates were women. Although, Saudi Arabia encourages young women to study technology, their sustainability in this career has been a predominant issue. While many women study these fields, they drift away from them once they graduate.
As I continue growing an interest in the subject of women in IT, I found hopeful statistics. Sixty percent of science graduates in Saudi are now women. Moreover, In the Arab world, one in three startups are led or founded by women.
It’s a real pleasure to see the Middle East gain an increasing number of female talents in previously male-led industries. I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes us while strongly believing that women have a lot to bring to the table.
Siham Berrached is the managing director at Emakina Qatar
