World Wide Web was one of the greatest brainchild inventions of Britain courtesy of Sir Tim Berners-Lee. With this powerful tool in place it has put over 2.4Billion users online opening many avenues for many to interact and transact. The web has transformed every aspect of life both public, private and work life. Mode of communication has tremendously changed. It has reshaped almost everything for instance in government through efficient public service delivery and improved transparency through open data. For businesses, online shift has provided ways to attain wide customer base and reduced operating costs. The internet has also provided other benefits by helping to address wider social and economic issues like improving health and reducing isolation.
Technology has grown with speed and many have impressed it. This industry has been dominated by men though of late women have shown competitive interest. This move has attracted a lot of government support. For instance, the government has developed a long-term plan to build a stronger, more competitive economy and fair society through investing in world class internet access and digital infrastructure. This includes public investment of over £1 billion to boost coverage of super fast broadband across the UK by 2017 which will provide proper business connections in major cities. In addition to it, the government intends to equip the whole country with necessary skills, motivation and trust to venture online, be digitally capable and to make the most of the internet.
Despite all these strategies, women are still few in the industry and a good number of those in the industry find it hard to cope with it and end up quitting. Some of the reasons that compel them to opt out are; maternity leave policy. Whenever women are on maternity leave their terms are not clearly stipulated. Some never receive full salary due to no work done within the period, some get recalled to work before completion of their leave days. Such situations make it hard to decide whether to have time with their kids or go to job. Several of them end up quitting employment.
Another big challenge is lack of flexible work arrangements, the un-supportive work environment, or inadequate salary to pay for childcare. With this increased cost, it is hard for one to continue working while their demands are never met. Causing many to consider leaving employment for other opportunities. Discomfort working in environments that are implicitly discriminatory is another primary factor causing women to leave tech. This discrimination related to their age, race, or sexuality in addition to gender and motherhood has provided a challenge never to be addressed soon. A greater litter of interesting facts about this article can be found at Joanna Shields.
Considering all these challenges, many fear coming back after quitting citing several reasons. One being getting tired of being the odd duck in a team of men. The unforgiving maternity leave policy which provides trade-offs of either being loyal to the job or having a baby is another challenge. Tech career demands a lot of time and lacks clear schedule, but considering women have double roles of taking care of the family proves hard to concentrate on both roles at the same time.
A clear way of addressing these challenges needs to be realized to avoid a situation of male dominance in the industry. Some policies should be well spelled or amended to provide fair ground to all mankind and avoid discrimination.
