Why we need more women in civic-tech – and what we can do about it

It has been a little over a year since we packed our things, put on our research goggles and stowed away our dictation machines. On four different continents, we have conducted over 40 interviews to find out how we can facilitate women's access to digital technologies worldwide, so that they can benefit from digitisation as much as men. You can read our findings (and some nice anecdotes) in our study "Bridging the Digital Gender Gap".

Where are the women?

Back then, we did the same research in Germany and found that there is a digital gender gap here as well - not so much on access, but on the use and development of technologies. Even in the tech industry itself, there is no such thing as diversity: According to a Bitkom survey, the proportion of women among all employees in the IT sector has risen slightly (from 24 percent in 2014 to 28 percent in 2017), but their share of IT specialists is just 17 percent. Due to this sluggish development, women will continue to form the minority in IT companies (or departments) in the future, they will leave more quickly and hardly reach management positions. Mixed teams, which are said to have demonstrably better success, are still the exception in traditional companies as well as in tech start-ups. Not to mention founders: Only just under 13 percent of technology start-ups have a woman in their core team.

More visibility for Civic-Tech projects by and for women

As part of the third call of the Prototype Fund of the Open Knowledge Foundation to the motto "More Diversity: Open Source for All", we talked to some inspiring women who decided to pursue a career in the Civic Tech sector through their studies or lateral entry. The interviewees unite their employment in - in five cases also the founding of - tech projects, the target group of which is primarily women. These are network programs for female tech entrepreneurs, mentoring offers, maker spaces only for women, coding workshops for women in different programming languages, mediation of good speakers or mailing lists with job offers only for women. At the same time, the women differ in age, career, family background, IT education and knowledge, as well as their current activities in the tech sector (full-time and part-time, honorary).

In addition to the questions on hurdles and challenges of being able to participate equally in the development process in (civic) tech projects, we wanted to find out together which prerequisites must be fulfilled so that more women can work in the tech sector in the future.

We have also mapped initiatives and projects aimed at promoting tech skills among women in Germany. They were assigned to different categories for meaningful clustering: Inspiration, tech competence, start-up competence, network and conference. Here you can have a look at the Mindmup (requires Google Account): https://bit.ly/2NBAYVQ. This Mindmup should help to make projects more visible and easier to search for. Write to us if you also want to be listed!

What goes wrong so far

There are hurdles, and there are not too few of them. Here are the most important ones from the perspective of the interviewees:

  • Lack of counselling and positive support during school and university education
  • Tiresome fight against stereotypes and pressure to justify technological interest
  • Few female role models in the sector give the impression that the sector offers no perspective for women
  • Constant work on self-confidence: "We women like to underestimate ourselves because others don't trust us to. So we have to earn our hearing twice over by proving that we have something important 'technical' to contribute."
  • Low proportion of women in IT degree programs and in the tech industry
  • Few men in women-led tech projects

What we can do

  • Creating awareness of problems and developing solutions

Irrespective of the perspective from which the question is approached (school, university, profession), it is important to point out again and again and to create awareness among the relevant decision-makers that there is a problem, that there are too few women in the tech sector - and that this problem is primarily based on structural preconditions that need to be eliminated.

Offer gender-sensitive IT lessons from the 5th class onwards

There seems to be a public consensus on the need for better technological education for pupils from 5th grade onwards. However, it is equally important to consider gender-sensitive strategies in teaching these competences. This would already begin with gender diversity training in teacher training, because the (supportive) role of educators should not be underestimated.

Provide an increased range of networks in the study programme

While the reasons for the low proportion of women in MINT courses are mainly to be found in education at secondary schools, the high drop-out rate is a problem that universities should address themselves. The provision of network groups, in which women can exchange and encourage each other and make contact with alumni in order to exchange career perspectives, can form an important basis for this.

Promote the demystification of required competences

For women who decide to pursue a career in the tech sector only the second way, offers for coding classes must be provided more prominently. Supplementary, public programmes should inform about the possibilities of lateral entry and demystify the necessary prerequisites. Promoting diversity means actively reducing stereotypes.

Not only in the tech sector: promoting the compatibility of work and family life

IT companies must want to hire women! Under these conditions, offers can be created that make it easier for women to stay in a company and be successful. Here, as in other sectors, the compatibility of work and family life plays a central role. More flexible part-time and home office offers for mothers, or parental leave for fathers, which is taken for granted, are only two options.

Establishing a universally applicable Code of Conduct

Rules of conduct for non-violent communication as well as respect for one another and the performance of the individual should not only apply to tech projects developed by women for women, but should also be established as a standard in all areas of the IT industry. Not per se self-contained - and not infrequently a few diverse areas on the net form so-called "safe spaces", but the Internet and the IT sector as such would follow rules that are just as often disregarded in society itself.

Collecting Quotes

And here are the most beautiful quotes from our interviews, which we don't want to withhold from you:

"When women are involved in the development process, the working atmosphere in the team changes. Attention is paid to respectful, non-violent communication. In addition, it is very efficient and time-saving."
"It always takes at least two women to make a difference within a company."
"In principle, I only work in groups that follow a code of conduct. Because my own wellbeing is the most important thing for me."
"Women go into the tech sector to solve problems. They have ideas based on experience and develop solutions based on them."

Our Podcast

The first episode of the series "Wir kriegen die Krise." (only in German)