Breaking the Bias on International Women’s Day, Dr Karen O’Connor of Datapac

The theme of International Women’s Day 2022 is Break the Bias and the aim is to imagine a gender-equal world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.

The Break the Bias focus applies to many aspects of life. One that merits a spotlight on this International Women’s Day is the under-representation of women in STEM careers in Ireland, and in particular within the thriving technology sector where, in tandem, a skills gap crisis is raging.

According to PWC, 16% of women had a career in technology suggested to them as opposed to 33% of men, with only 5% of leadership positions in the tech sector held by women. The Central Statistics Office reports that less than 25% of STEM jobs in Ireland are filled by women, while over a quarter of female students say they are not interested in pursuing a career in technology as it’s too male-dominated. Statistics like this serve to illustrate the scale of the gender imbalance within the STEM arena and the degree to which bias is alive and well when it comes to technology careers.

The Business Case for Women in Tech

It is widely recognised that diverse workforces are important, from fostering innovation to preventing groupthink. In the technology sector, however, there is another compelling advantage; the opportunity to widen the talent pool through a more gender-inclusive approach in an industry where skills shortages have been a persistent challenge.

Economic, social and cultural systems worldwide grow ever more digitised with each passing year. The global economy continues to make strides in what has been dubbed “the Fourth Industrial Revolution” fuelled by the adoption and integration of digital technologies. Ensuring that Ireland is prepared for this revolution will allow the nation to compete effectively on the world stage with other small open economies. A lack of digital skills continues to be an obstacle to businesses in Ireland and across Europe. In 2020, the World Economic Forum identified that Europe had a shortage of 756,000 ICT professionals.

Fostering inclusivity in tech is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do!

The Problem with Bias

It seems to make good business sense to encourage an inclusive workplace, particularly in the technology sector. So, why is it that a problem persists? A key challenge is not always a lack of buy-in from business leaders, but a lack of know-how to improve the situation. This was often my experience in moderating Women in Tech sessions, particularly at European conferences. Unfortunately, my experience as a moderator in the US was a stark contrast, whereby the collective voice of participants was still very much focused on the need to raise awareness and the sharing of their largely negative lived experience of discrimination.

There are a number of common challenges I have experienced in my over 16 years in the technology sector, first as a HR professional and later a tech leader, and many of these threads were echoed in the women in technology sessions that I have chaired.

These include poor female representation in new entrants post-grad, a lack of confidence among women when it comes to applying for a job or asking for a pay rise, and good intentions of leaders not translating down to the actions and behaviours level. Many of these are rooted in bias; early life cultivated, embedded, and most often underlying. The solution, therefore, needs to go far beyond enlightening leaders and providing bias awareness training for interviewers – it needs to go to the very root.

Getting to the Root of the Problem

A focus on cultivating talent from the root has been a core focus of Datapac’s talent strategy for nearly two decades, with over 200 graduates passing through our doors during that time. Initially disappointing, however, was the trend in the uneven split between male and female entrants to our Graduate Programme.

This was a key influence in our decision to launch a Transition Year programme in 2018 in order to encourage more individuals to try a career in IT. We also wanted to reach a more passive audience through careers in IT talks to wider class groups, with the aim of ensuring more young women will have been asked to consider a career in IT before ticking their CAO choices.

Closing the Confidence Gap

Tackling the issue of the confidence gap has a significant role in fostering a more balanced workplace. The analogy that a man will apply for a job if he has 60% of the skills listed on a job advert, while a woman will not apply unless she has 100%, is very often my experience.

Awards that recognise women in our industry and promote the presence of strong role models for young women have a role to play. Encouraging female leaders to promote themselves as a role models is important, a lesson I learned myself when I saw the impact that my inclusion in the shortlist for the 2017 Women Mean Business Women in Technology Award had on my female colleagues, despite being a very reluctant participant at the outset.

A particularly powerful lever in the achievement of balanced workplaces has been the contribution of mentors, both male and female, and the creation of a coaching culture. Such initiatives have been transformative in developing a large number of individuals, many of whom are female, into leadership roles both within our business and the wider ecosystem.

Such initiatives have also resulted in significant numbers, a large proportion of whom are women, going on to continue their formal education. I was lucky enough to have been one of those individuals and completed both my Master of Business and Doctorate in Business Administration degrees with the support of Datapac. One of the greatest enablers in my ability to complete these undertakings, aside from the financial support received, was the encouragement from my mentor and the impact it had on my belief in my ability to succeed.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Working closely with our talent partners, Datapac identified that there were likely to be many women in alternative roles and organisations with an aptitude for technology and many transferrable skills. With this in mind, we created a number of feeder roles to work closely with core technical roles but designed in a way that might attract a more inclusive range of applicants.

Through this, many individuals without a background in technology were exposed to technology roles and gradually, through mentorship and coaching, acquired the knowledge and, importantly, the confidence to transition into an IT engineering role.

As part of this process, we reviewed our job adverts and often found that a simple step such as altering the language used had the impact of widening the female response rate to an advertised role. By challenging our status quo, we widened our talent pool while also creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

Despite the best of intentions, such as a global tech firm including a Women in Tech session at their annual conference, it is important to question how our actions and behaviours mirror the message we send out about our commitment to the cause, such as having both female-fit and male-fit merchandise at the swag stand at the same tech conference. It is often the smallest action that can be more transformative than shouting the loudest.

Conclusion

Breaking the Bias places an emphasis on forging equality and inclusivity to help break biases. This aligns well with a core principle underpinning Datapac’s mission, that success is driven by a team of equals where everyone has an important role to play.

ICT has traditionally been a very male-centric industry, but Datapac is an example of a company that bucks the trend. With strong female representation across all levels of the company and in all disciplines, Datapac is not only speaking about breaking the bias, but are proud to be actually doing it.

Dr. Karen O’Connor, General Manager, ICT Services and Solutions at Datapac

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