Sopra Steria Recruitment has joined forces with over 100 major organisations to take a pledge to support PwC’s ‘Tech She Can Charter’. The initiative is designed to bring together organisations which are committed to working together to boost the number of females taking up technology roles in the UK and tackle the factors behind the shortfall of women working in STEM.
PwC’s research, Women in Tech: Time to Close the Gender Gap, reveals that only 27 per cent of females say they would consider a career in technology, compared to 62 per cent of males. Only 3 per cent of females say it is their first choice of career. The reasons why female students aren’t considering technology roles include: because no one is putting it forward as an option to them; they aren’t given enough information at school about what working in technology involves; and a lack of female role models.
Without coordinated action at school age onwards to create a sustainable pipeline of diverse tech talent, the Tech She Can signatories believe the UK could lose its competitive edge on the world stage. This could mean not being able to meet businesses’ technology skills needs, losing out on inward investment and creating inherently biased algorithms.
“As a leading recruitment business, we have long understood the value an inclusive workforce can bring and we strive to achieve this for our clients,” said Sara Wright, head of quality assurance, Sopra Steria Recruitment. “For this reason, we are incredibly proud that Sopra Steria Recruitment is now a confirmed signatory on the Tech She Can Charter.
“It’s an honour to be part of such a great initiative, through which we have pledged to not only support the right environment to attract and retain female talent into the technology sector, but also promote the Tech She Can vision throughout our networks and the wider supply chain.”
Sheridan Ash, Women in Tech leader at PwC and Tech She Can Charter founder, added: “Waiting until women are entering work is simply too late – to boost the number of females in technology we need to take coordinated action to start inspiring girls to consider technology careers while they are still at school.
“By working together we can reach more females at an earlier stage of their lives,” she added. “We need to work harder to raise awareness about the exciting range of technology roles out there, in a sector that has the power to change the world. The sector is open to all and we need to get that message across. We are delighted to have Sopra Steria Recruitment on board and welcome other organisations to sign up to our Charter and take action to solve this important problem.”
