On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we decided to check what has changed in the last year in the women’s sector in the technological industries. If in the past the comparative spotlight was directed mainly towards the salary gap between men and women, the year of the Corona virus marks an interesting turn in the discourse and data – and makes us examine the place of women in the industry and their movements in the labor market.
For example, we checked the system data in Ethosia and discovered that even today in 2021, the high-tech and bio-tech industries are completely dominated by men, with women occupying only 9% of senior management. The distribution by fields is also not particularly encouraging: in the cyber field only 17% are women, in the field of medical equipment 14%, and in the semiconductor and automotive fields 15% of the total number of employees are women. It is still possible to point to slightly encouraging data on the upward trend, for example 32% of those involved in software are women, as well as an increase in percentages in the venture capital fund industry, where women already occupy a share of 38% of the total number of employees.
There is also an encouraging upward trend in the academic bench in the worlds of software development and electronics. Already last year we detected an increase in the number of female students in the fields of engineering , and this year too the figure continues to rise with 33% of female students studying in the subjects relevant to high-tech employment. In contrast, in the technological units in the army, the numbers are still low and stand at only about 24% female soldiers.
Why do women fear moving between jobs?
And how did the corona affect the women in the industry anyway? Although these are preliminary data and it is difficult to gauge whether this is a trend, there has already been a disappointing phenomenon of 5% of women leaving the field completely. This is a sharp increase of 25% compared to the corresponding period last year, so the question arises, is it the corona epidemic that pushed those women to look for another field of employment?
"During the past year, many women for whom we provided career counseling were afraid of moving to a new workplace and turned down very tempting salary offers," says Nira Kirkirios, CEO of First – Athosia’s senior management unit. "The fear that they might not respect the required flexibility at a time like this grew And became more significant this year than ever. (Tramadol) "
Kirkirios, who by virtue of her position as COO of Ethosia advises candidates and candidates in various fields at the crossroads of their careers, noticed that this year many high-quality candidates gave up lucrative job offers due to the same concern. "Even women in senior positions, those who are used to strenuous and long working hours, preferred not to move between jobs and companies or start new projects – because of the Corona situation and the growing need for a balance between work and home," she says.
A surprising trend of new jobs
Looking at the job seeker market – it turns out that compared to January-February last year, this year there is a 30% increase in the number of female job seekers, with 15% of the total number of female job seekers in the high-tech and bio-tech fields being women. "Another interesting trend we have identified is in the areas of HR ," Kirkirios says. "Recently, dozens of new HR and recruitment jobs have been opened and there is an interesting trend of job transfers from company to company." It can be assumed that the field of human resources is currently undergoing a natural development, this is because in the last year the requirements from the HR departments have changed and attention is now directed to the welfare of the employees more than ever.
With challenges such as preserving the office identity while working remotely and recruiting new employees at a time when people prefer to defend the existing and are afraid of changes, there is no doubt that more options are growing in the field of HR , which has once again become a sought-after profession. Those who will surely benefit from the demand are undoubtedly the women who dominate the field, when 83% of the recruiters and 75% of the human resources managers – are women.
