When you think of technology titans, you probably think of Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. Given Uber’s battles lately, it’s a good time to look at how women are trying to break into the industry.
1 in 5 tech startups across the world are founded by women, and Chicago leads for female-led tech start-ups. Surprisingly enough, tech hub Silicon Valley is in third place.
The number of tech companies with a female founder doubled over a five-year period, and female tech positions are growing 238% faster than male positions.
According to Forbes, the most powerful woman in technology is Sheryl Sandberg. Of Fortune’s top 15 companies, six have female CIOs. Women do well in financial services, energy and manufacturing industries.
There’s still some work to be done. Out of the top venture capitalists in the U.S., only five percent are female.
And more than half of women in tech positions leave mid-career because of working conditions, work-life balance, and the company environment. Most of the women who leave take non-technical jobs.
Retaining women in tech is something companies should prioritize, but what will it take? Mentoring programs, flexible working hours and workforce diversity are all things that will help any company keep its female (and male) employees happy. Since we’re talking about women in tech, how does the Internet affect feminism? Click here to find out more.