Women in Technology: Is There a Bias?

 




The number of women women in Technology startups is increasing, and with it, so is their dissatisfaction with discriminatory behaviour. However, that might be a positive thing.

Being a woman in technology at the time was both the best and the worst of circumstances.When asked about the present, Onoco creator and CEO Margaret Zablocka said, "I genuinely think there is no better moment for women in tech than today." Onoco is a well-known parenting app. She claimed that the assistance system for women is already much better than it once was.

So how do we interpret the findings of a recent report from Web Summit, the biggest technology gathering on earth? 70% of the women surveyed by the tech community at Web Summit in 2022 thought they had to work harder to succeed in their roles due to their gender. This represented a 36% increase over 2019 numbers.

Growing representation of women in the tech startup scene is bringing gender-related problems in the sector to light. About 20% of startups worldwide had at least one female founder in 2019, up from 10% in 2009, according to data from Crunchbase, which offers insights on startups. Even so, only 2% of venture capital financing in Europe went to startups with only women as founders in 2021, which was even lower than the meagre 3% in 2020.

Investors aren't anticipating a woman,

The founder of an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, Rima Al-Shikh, called from Canada and said, "Look, the bias is true. I won't try to conceal it. It's not easy.Al-Shikh, who was raised in a scientific household in Syria, has had a lifelong obsession with computers and coding. After several years of working as a tech consultant in the business world, she created Begin AI, an AI platform that allows businesses to turn customer data into a customised user experience without having to develop in-house AI infrastructure, during the pandemic.

One million dollars (944,000 euros) in financing was recently obtained by Begin AI, including from Sandpiper Ventures, a Canadian investment fund run by women that makes investments in businesses with female founders. Al-Shikh is very sentimental about this.

People have very strong sexist prejudices implanted in their brains, she claimed. "In fundraising, it's evident that investors don't expect to see a woman technologist when I come into a room," the author said.

Males Experience Anxiety

Zablocka claims that while collecting money for her London-based startup, she too encountered gender bias. The founder spent ten years developing digital products for the financial and sports betting industries before launching the parenting app, which allows you to monitor and plan your baby's schedule according to developmental stages, after becoming a second-time mother.

People make fast connections and assume that she is young. She is a female. She founded a mobile business aimed at carers. She said, "It probably means she doesn't have any tech expertise.

She claims that there are a lot more women in computing today. Strangely enough, this might be one of the reasons more women are under pressure to establish their identity.

She continued, "And I believe some people might think that there is some unfairness there. There might have been a growing frustration among men in tech that the importance of diversity and inclusion is a subject which is being even more openly discussed.

Higher Rivalry Occurs in Tighter Markets

Regardless of your gender, it's a frustrating time for the computer industry in general. Higher interest rates and tighter economic conditions have taken a significant toll on tech financing after more than a decade of what seemed like unstoppable growth. Between November 2021 and November 2022, the US NASDAQ equity index, which is heavily weighted towards technology, lost $7.4 trillion.

Before investing, investors are carefully vetting businesses. Al-Shikh observed that in the past, when money was easy to come by, they frequently chose businesses with little to no business case, depending instead on what they believed to be "instinct."

So why do you believe this is a great person [to invest in]? she questioned. They may talk with your accent, maybe. They're your hue, too. They have linguistic skills.

Women in the tech industry might feel like a target for their peers' resentment because there aren't as many tools available to them. Zablocka recently went to a conference on artificial intelligence in London where all the expert groups were female. She could hear comments being made about how the panellists were presumably chosen based on their gender from her audience seat.

She asserted, "I believe they were probably embarrassed [for thinking that] after they listened to what these women had to say. Because the judges had a lot of expertise.

Companies are still a great environment for women

One method to support women in tech, according to both CEOs, is to let their work speak for itself and to pay less attention to their gender.

Zablocka stated, "Yes, I am a female founder, but I also just want to be regarded as a founder. "I'd prefer that we concentrate on the world of males and what we can do to better assist men in understanding."

For her, this entails enhancing maternity leave laws so that women are no longer assumed to be parents by default. Her company's software aims to make it simpler to split parenting responsibilities.

Both founders concur that the tech industry is still a great place for women, especially in the startup scene where founders have more freedom than in the corporate world to incorporate their values into the business.

According to Al-observations, Shikh's most people will act honourably when provided the chance and the knowledge of what that action entails. "I definitely think startups are better positioned to bring about greater change."

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