Data from Clicks’ 2022 Report: Gender Diversity in the Australian IT Market, reveals the proportion of female executives in the tech industry is 15%. This represents a drop of ten percentage points compared to 2019. The pre-pandemic figure – at 25% – was the highest Clicks had recorded since we began collecting the data in 2013. In early 2020, a UN senior gender adviser warned “even the limited gains made in the past decades” toward gender equality “are at risk of being rolled back”. The concern was that “this pandemic is being layered on top of existing inequalities, and it’s exacerbating those inequalities”. Unfortunately, our latest figures support this forewarning. For the first time since Clicks began reporting on gender diversity within the IT industry, the number of women represented in a senior leadership position has fallen below 20%.
A report by the Australian government Workplace Gender Equity Agency (WGEA) on the gendered impact of COVID-19 cited several reasons for the decrease of women in the workforce. Women tend to take on a greater share of unpaid domestic work. Women are also more likely to undertake caring responsibilities when family members are sick. Education-related responsibilities fall far more to women when children are unable to attend school.
What else does Clicks’ latest Gender Diversity report reveal?
Since we began our Gender Diversity report nearly a decade ago, the biggest growth in female representation across any IT skill category remains lower than ten percentage points. Of the sixteen technology verticals Clicks monitors, only two – Learning & Development and Change & Communication – achieve consistent gender equality. The most well-represented skill vertical for females is still Change & Communication, with 61% female. Security and Architecture & Design are amongst the least diverse skill verticals, at just 10% female representation.
The full report contains more insight about gender diversity in the Australian IT market.
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Get the 2022 Gender Diversity ReportThe good news
While overall participation remains low, it is encouraging to see the numbers have increased across nine skill verticals in this year’s report. The year-on-year data suggests there is much work to be done before we achieve true gender equality in the tech sector. However, this creates an opportunity for organisations to work towards. Clicks is proud of our diverse workforce with more than half of our leadership positions filled by women – we know it’s possible!
As a specialist IT recruiter for over 30 years, Clicks has the expertise to maximise gender diversity when hiring IT Executives and niche technical talent. We recently launched an advice series, ‘Achieving Diversity through Recruitment’. We want to support organisations to implement policies and practices that achieve greater gender diversity so they can move towards equal representation. Subscribe here so you don’t miss out.
About Clicks’ Gender Diversity in IT Report
In 2013 we released our first report on gender diversity in the Australian IT market. Our study looks at data from 30,000 Australian job applicants since 2017 and is grouped into 16 high-level technology verticals.
Clicks is an award-winning IT recruitment specialist. Our team averages 12 years’ industry experience, and we’re on over 80 Preferred Supplier Agreements. As Australia’s favourite recruiters, we help job seekers find great opportunities and companies find great people each day. For any hiring needs, contact your Clicks Account Manager or call us on 1300 CLICKS for a confidential discussion.
