A Study by Meena Satishkumar brings out dark, dismal facts
Venkat Raman, March 8, 2024
The world celebrates International Women’s Day today (March 8,) but the fanfare in some offices and the rising family violence point to the not-too-subtle hypocrisy that is inherent in a still-male-dominated world.
That is the conclusion of studies with statistics relating to the trials and tribulations of women, their treatment in the workplace, the abuse that many of them suffer in their homes and the lip service that governments render to improve their lot.
New Zealand was the first country in the world to accord suffrage to women (September 19, 1893) following a long campaign by Kate Sheppard, but it was not until 40 years later (in 1933) that the first woman would be elected to Parliament (Elizabeth McCombs). We placed Kate Shappard on our Ten Dollar Notes but the serious cause of women is still gaining currency.
Amidst the shadow of several dismal facts comes new research which highlights that New Zealand’s technology sector continues to discriminate against women, or to soften the expression, ‘does not provide enough incentives for their progress.’
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Study by Meena Satishkumar
The Research, ‘Exploring Gender Dynamic in the New Zealand Technology Sector: An Exploratory Analysis of Women’s Perspectives and Experiences,’ by Meena Satishkumar who is employed as Senior Platform Engineer at Bank of New Zealand in Auckland.
Ms Satishkumar’s technical role at one of the largest financial institutions may contradict the allegation but she may be considered a remarkable exception. The technical world is still the domain of men.
Ms Sathishkumar was keen to study the role of women as Engineers, Developers, Solution Architects, Tech Leads, Delivery Managers and Product Managers in the technology sector. She used the online Google Survey system to reach out to 200 women across New Zealand and later concentrated on 187 respondents between September and December 2023.
Did she receive encouragement from others to progress her survey?
Ms Sathiskumar says, “Notably, the Survey lacked institutional sponsorship in the industry. The organiser reached out to individuals in her organisation, securing support from the Chief Technology Officer for internal promotion. Additionally, Survey information was spread through advocates for women in various organisations. This study employed a non-probability sampling technique known as ‘Snowball Sampling.’ As a result, the participant pool comprised women with a high level of motivation to participate, although specific reasons for this motivation remain unknown,” she said.
Challenges and Opportunities
The research aimed to assess the challenges faced by women in New Zealand’s technology sector, explore their perspectives and experiences, identify barriers and examine if organisations are adequately promoting gender diversity and inclusion.
Ms Sathishkumar was also keen to find out if women had career progression as technocrats and raise awareness, advocate increased gender diversity and cultivate a more inclusive work environment that empowers women.
Her findings should be an eye-opener not only to employers who believe in encouraging women to seek higher competence and qualifications in the technology sector but also to ministries and government departments that write policies and regulatory practices.
Ms Satishkumar said women who enter the technology sector through transition, typically fall below the age of 35. This career shift is primarily driven by their passion and is facilitated through self-directed or independent learning approaches, she said.
“Women often encounter limited access to networking and mentorship programmes for skills development. This implies greater self-effort when contemplating career transitions, as the available support structures for facilitating such transitions appear to be limited,” she said.
Barriers and apathy to upskilling
Her study also found barriers that women face in upskilling, despite a strong interest in adopting the latest technologies.
“Many women face challenges such as a lack of awareness of opportunities, unclear career pathways, and limited workplace opportunities. Support structures for upskilling and career advancement remain insufficient within the tech sector in New Zealand,” she said.
Acknowledging the efforts of some companies to achieve gender balance, she found gender disparities in technical roles. Her study points to a skewed distribution in senior technical positions, with women transitioning into non-technical roles like Product Managers, Delivery Managers or People Managers.
“There is a notable absence of female representation in areas such as Infrastructure, Security, and Networking. In environments characterised by gendered institutional norms, such as the technology sector, the limited presence of female role models reinforces a culture that prioritises the display of masculine behaviours,” she said.
Ms Satishkumar said that about 47% of the respondents said that they had transitioned into the technology sector from a different job and that about 80% were less than 35 years of age. Many respondents reported that they switched to technical roles on their initiative and passion. These efforts encompassed various strategies such as identifying and leveraging transferable skills from previous careers, pursuing formal education and training, engaging in self-study, undertaking coding projects for practical experience, and participating in online tech communities, she said.
“However, support from organisational professional development programmes, career transition programmes, networking, or mentoring was scarce. The respondents said that their bosses did not adequately support subtler soft skills that are key to even technical roles, which results in women being considered only for their technical skills and not valued for the additional benefits they bring with other soft skills as well,” she said.
About 59% of the respondents said that they utilise cloud-based technologies for deploying applications or platforms. Only 2.5% of the respondents expressed disinterest in incorporating them into their work.
Structural inequalities rampant
The study also underscores the importance of addressing structural inequalities and cultural biases within the technology sector to support the advancement and retention of women in technical roles.
Based on these findings, Ms Sathiskumar has recommended several practical measures and implications for organisations to foster a more inclusive environment, including promoting balance in job descriptions, understanding gender dynamics in interview processes, recognising gender differences in self-efficacy levels, and implementing strategies to prevent the loss of female talent through the professional pipeline.
“Gender roles which are deeply ingrained in our society significantly influence our behaviour. Just as we feel disoriented when attempting to mimic someone else’s behaviour, women may
struggle to assimilate into environments still largely dominated by men. Recognising the inherent differences in how men and women operate and the unique traits they bring can be
transformative. Biases suggesting women are unsuitable for technical roles due to personal traits must be actively avoided. This shift in mindset will evolve gradually, and organisations can enhance female retention in the technology sector by grasping the cultural and social dynamics at play,” Ms Sathish Kumar said.
Climate Change and Women
Studies, Research Papers and discussions held at national and international conferences have found that gender, social equity and climate change are interlinked and that achievement of gender equality is a prelude to achieving all other objectives.
Women experience the greatest impacts of the climate crisis as it amplifies existing gender inequalities and puts women’s lives and livelihoods at risk. Across the world, women depend more on, yet have less access to, natural resources, and often bear a disproportionate responsibility for securing food, water, and fuel.
As women and girls bear the burden of climate impacts, they are also essential to leading and driving change in climate adaptation, mitigation and solutions. Without the inclusion of half of the world’s population, it is unlikely that solutions for a sustainable planet and a gender-equal world tomorrow will be realised.
