Women of Today: The Leader in Tech
We are living in the 21st century. With every new century comes new developments, new regularities, and new outcomes. This is true for every new year as well. The most dominant industry that has surfaced is that of technology. Technology along with other industries always had a gender gap. But in this last decade, this gender gap has been closing slowly and steadily.
In the past two decades, out emerged a branch of technology known as Femtech (or female technology) focusing on merging technology and women’s health. This was the time when many great women emerged on the tech screen and took control of a predominantly male industry and sparked a revolution.
Deloitte Global predicts that large global technology firms, on average, will reach nearly 33% overall female representation in their workforces in 2022, up slightly more than 2 percentage points from 2019.
Isn’t that amazing to hear?!
Women always had to work hard to find work with equal rights in a male-dominated industry. It’s not to say that the disparity has disappeared overnight but slowly and gradually women are making their mark in the world and solidifying their name in the history books.
In the spirit of March 8, we want to pause and celebrate strides made by women in numerous industries.
UNESCO states, “International Women’s Day is an occasion to celebrate the progress made towards achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment but also to critically reflect on those accomplishments and strive for a greater momentum towards gender equality worldwide. It is a day to recognize the extraordinary acts of women and to stand together, as a united force, to advance gender equality around the world.”
Let’s take a combined look at the past, present, and future of women in workplaces.
Women in 1900s
We certainly have come a long way from marching about “bread and peace” to protesting against harsh working environments. A century ago, women were dependent on men for every little thing. Women were “supposed” to be the prime caretakers of homes and their children but outside of their homes, they had to fight to work and accept work of pennies and knuckles and lowly work environments.
It was not accepted (definitely a taboo) and frowned upon for women to even think about being progressive or to consider working. Unfortunately, for some cultures, it is true to this day. But still, women decided to take control of their fate in their own hands.
Women in Tech: Women Who Changed the World
“Outstanding women can function as inspirational examples of success, illustrating the kinds of achievements that are possible for women around them. They demonstrate that it is possible to overcome traditional gender barriers, indicating to other women that high levels of success are indeed attainable.”
-Penelope Lockwood, Psychologist
The very lovable Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth being used today were actually inspired by the work of a woman. Hedy Lamar is the inventor of Wi-Fi (a self-taught inventor herself). How incredible is that!
Annie Easley laid the foundation of space shuttle launches of the future while at NASA. She trailblazed racial and gender diversity in STEM. Mary Wilkes designed LINC (one of the earliest systems of personal interactive computer system), and become the first-ever home computer user.
The very first Apple computer was inspired by Adele Goldberg (again, a woman!). The very internet we use today that we can’t possibly think to live without, which is crucial for any tech to work was the work of a woman: Radia Perlman ‘The Mother of Internet’.
And who hasn’t heard of Katherine Johnson? Her calculations were crucial for the first-ever successful US Space Flight. Karen Spark-Jones and her work in the field of information science, Elizabeth Feinler who along with her team developed the original search engine (along with .net, .com, etc.)
Women of Today: The Leader In Tech
“Being a woman in tech, in general, is both challenging and rewarding. It’s still challenging because we’ve still not closed the gender gap in this field, but at the same time is rewarding to see how things are going in the right direction. Each individual woman can make a difference with the right attitude. The attitude that says: “I am a professional and my gender has nothing to do with my job. My experience has been the best so far, I’ve had the great opportunity to be supported, guided, and helped by wonderful people, regardless of their gender, and at some point, I stopped seeing myself as a “woman in tech”, but a “leader in tech”.
-Cristina Ivanciuc
Being a woman in tech means you need to gather the courage in yourself and others to go after unconventional ideas that might seem crazy to others. You need to be in it for the long haul to succeed, to revolutionize the industry.
Even multiple SaaS businesses were co-founded or are being run by women currently. Subscription management platforms are being run by incredible women as well. We surely do believe in ‘gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow’.
The rising number of women in tech is astounding and deserves a big round of applause.
At the end of the day, women’s day and women’s history month might come and go every year but our support 365 days a year to women is what lasts. Remember to acknowledge and honor female role models every day. We all know phenomenal women in our lives who have inspired us and who continue to support us. It is our duty as women to love, support, and nourish the young girls and other women in the community.
This women’s day promise to support and praise at least one other woman in your life. Remember to celebrate the achievements of women in tech and other industries and if you want to start a revolution in any industry, you don’t need to worry! There’s a whole community of women rooting for you!
Happy International Women’s Day from SubscriptionFlow Family!