Software development has been predominantly male-dominated for decades, and though the tide is slowly turning , there is plenty more to do. This International Women’s Day (IWD), we’re taking a closer look at IT specialists in the UK, and highlighting employers which are committed to driving greater inclusivity in the workforce and proactively promoting software jobs for women.
According to the 2023 BCS Diversity report, there are now 380,000 female IT specialists in the UK, accounting for 20% of this group of professionals. If gender representation in IT was equal to the broader workplace norm, there would be an additional 527,000 women in this cohort.
The level of female representation in IT also varies by job type, from one in 20 engineers (6% of the total), to around one in three project or programme managers (30%). Women working as IT specialists are less likely than men to be in “positions with responsibility” (36% versus 41%).
The analysis also found that women IT specialists were more than four times as likely to be working part-time than men.
Organisations of all sizes are making a concerted effort to make the industry more appealing to women, clearly advertising themselves as inclusive, and listing a number of benefits, including flexible and part-time working.
Marni Baker Stein, who is the chief content officer at Coursera, warns that despite positive inroads, women need to be aware of how the changing nature of software jobs might impact them.
“The integration of AI into our professional lives is accelerating, and for women, this carries a particular threat of disruption,” she says.
“UK government research suggests that women are at a heightened risk of experiencing AI-related job automation, underlining the urgency for proactive upskilling to ensure their careers evolve alongside technology rather than being replaced by it.
“In this area, there is more to be done. Currently, women are underrepresented in AI-related upskilling, with men being three times more likely to have enrolled in the most popular AI courses on Coursera’s platform. This disparity threatens to widen existing gender gaps in the workplace as AI literacy becomes increasingly necessary for career advancement.”
Secure a new tech role
The most common means of both male and female IT specialists securing a job during BCS’ 2018-2022 analysis period was “replying to an advertisement”, some 39% and 31% respectively, which leads us very neatly to the UKTN Job Board.
If you’re looking to land a role in a more inclusive company and interested in browsing software jobs for women, the UKTN Jobs Board has a constantly updated job list and company profiles, including these five below.
Software developer, OpenText, Cambridge
Formerly Micro Focus, OpenText is one the of the largest enterprise software providers, and its profile says it is building an inclusive work environment that goes beyond simply complying with applicable laws, and mentions its Employment Equity and Diversity Policy.
It’s hiring for graduate software developers to join its R&D team to work on ML, AI, enterprise search, plus audio and video processing. You’ll need to be expecting a 2-1 or 1st-class degree in a technical subject, have good working knowledge of programming in a Windows or UNIX environment, and knowledge of C or C++.
Find out more here.
Software engineer, BBC, London
This BBC job spec for a software engineer leads with a statement about its inclusive and diverse environment, and highlights its staff networks like the Women’s Network and National Disability Networks. Family-friendly flexible working arrangements, like hybrid and compressed hours, can be requested, and candidates are welcome from all backgrounds, but especially underrepresented groups.
The job itself involves working in a cross-discipline team and after three to six months you’ll be taking technical ownership for larger pieces of work, while inputting into design, planning and estimation of all the team’s technical output.
Read more about this role here.
Software engineer, Roku, Cambridge
As part of its compensation package, Roku is focused on supporting its employees and their families, including access to support and resources. There is flexibility in the day-to-day too; employees can take time off work for personal reasons to balance their evolving work and life needs.
It’s hiring for a software engineer to contribute to its applications, UI development, embedded software development and making it more user-intuitive with the underlying architecture. Experience with C or C++ is a must, as is BrightScript, JavaScript, Lua, Rust, or similar languages.
Apply here.
Staff software engineer, Ripple, London
Ripple is an equal opportunity employer and says it’s committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. Now hiring into a high-impact role, the successful candidate for this staff software engineer position will help create the next generation of data infrastructure built for scale, resilience and reliability by building real-time data pipelines and tools for the internal team of leadership, compliance, finance and product teams to enable them to make strategic decisions.
You’ll also be responsible for its data API. You’ll need eight plus years in software engineering, and be proficient in at least one primary programming language (e.g. Java, Scala, Python), and also be comfortable working with SQL.
Find out more here.
Lead software engineer, Aviva, London
Research has shown that women are less likely to apply to a role if they don’t tick every requirement box. Aviva acknowledges this, and encourages applications from individuals and job shares, saying they want applications from people with diverse backgrounds and experience.
With flex locations, hours and working patterns, the insurance company is now hiring for a lead software engineer to partner with product owners, SMEs and the rest of the team to deliver excellent and timely customer outcomes through continuous development and delivery. The ideal candidate will be well-versed in modern development practices, including Agile and continuous deployments, DevOps and either AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.
Check out the tech stack involved here.
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