PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AnitaB.org today announced the results of the organization’s annual Top Companies for Women Technologists program, the only industry benchmark based on statistical analysis of employer data that measures technical employees using a standardized definition of the technical workforce. Once again, findings show a small but continued increase in the number of women employed in the technical workforce, with the highest increase occurring at the executive level.
This year, Top Companies for Women Technologists evaluated 80 companies accounting for more than 628,000 technologists across a variety of fields. Within the participating companies, women held 24.03% of technical roles. This 1.08% increase is slightly smaller than the 1.2% increase in 2017, but represents thousands of new jobs for women technologists.
Although representation increased across all career levels, the most significant increase was measured at the executive level, where the number of women grew 2.1%. Women were also promoted at a slightly higher rate than men for the second straight year, with 14.7% of them advancing compared to 14.4% of their male counterparts.
Organizations continue to invest in building workplaces where women are supported and valued as they pursue career goals. The 2018 results saw significant uptake in relevant policies and programs, including leadership development, gender diversity training, and pay equity policies.
Despite promising gains for women at the leadership level, women from underrepresented groups only make up around 13% of the technical workforce. Women in the technical workforce are predominately white (45.2%) and Asian (39.5%); those who are Black (5.5%), Hispanic (4.9%) and Native American (0.5%) are employed at levels far lower than their percentage of the general population.
The complete 2018 Top Companies Insights Report offers additional data, insights, and methodology details.
“We’re encouraged by the improvements companies have made to advance and retain women at the executive level,” said Michelle Russell, Vice President of Programs at AnitaB.org. “But in order to create truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environments, company leaders must focus on setting the tone and implementing policies for broader recruitment methods. They also must create opportunities and foster sponsorships to not only retain but advance diverse talent. As evidence grows for the importance of intersectionality in discourse around diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is crucial to weave diversity into company policies, processes, and decision making.”
AnitaB.org is honored to recognize the 80 participating companies that made commitments to measure and improve performance on critical gender-diversity metrics. This year, the five organizations with the highest cumulative scores in their respective workforce size categories (fewer than 1,000; 1,000 to 10,000; and greater than 10,000 technical employees) earned the additional distinction of placement on “2018 Top Companies for Women Technologists Top 5” lists.
The three winning companies — those with the highest score in each of the technical workforce size categories — will be recognized on the main stage at the annual Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing (GHC) in Houston, Texas on September 26, 2018. These organizations have demonstrated the highest level of achievement, exemplifying impressive progress in their women’s technical workforces.
AnitaB.org strongly encourages organizations of every size to create opportunities for women technologists to receive leadership training, sponsorship, and career-advancing roles. Companies that employ a technical workforce must redouble their efforts to eliminate gender bias and increase inclusion, and examine their promotion processes for transparency. By measuring progress and setting targets for continual improvement, Top Companies participants can ultimately shape the future of both the tech industry and the entire workforce.
About Top Companies
AnitaB.org Top Companies for Women Technologists is a national program that recognizes companies committed to building workplaces where women in technology roles can thrive. The program uses rigorous methodology to analyze data from participating organizations and produce insights across three key areas: representation, employee workplace experience, and programs and policies.
The Top Companies program began collecting race and ethnicity breakdowns of women technologists at participating organizations for the 2018 cycle. Because this is the first year we have access to this critical benchmarking data, we are not analyzing data from these findings at this time. We acknowledge that gender-diversity gains in the industry primarily benefit white and Asian women; Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native American women continue to be significantly underrepresented. AnitaB.org encourages all employers to carefully track the representation of these groups to ensure equitable hiring and advancement opportunities.
About AnitaB.org
AnitaB.org is a nonprofit social enterprise committed to increasing the representation of women technologists in the global workforce. AnitaB.org engages with tens of thousands of women and leading organizations around the world to build diverse and inclusive workplace cultures. Founded in 1997 by our namesake, computer science visionary Anita Borg, our organization works toward a future where the teams that create technology mirror the people and societies for whom they build it.
Follow AnitaB.org on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
Media Contact
Kelsey Quickstad
AnitaB.org for Women and Technology
AnitaB@hotwireglobal.com