Get Ready for a Wake-Up Call: Here’s the Unvarnished Truth About Women in Tech
As the curtain closes on this year’s Women’s Month, six powerful female executives in the tech industry shared their unfiltered thoughts about the industry’s biggest challenges. Their no-holds-barred discussion at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) executive Women in Tech panel yesterday was a stark reminder that women still face a multitude of obstacles, from stereotypes to unconscious bias, just to make it in the competitive world of tech.
The panelists, comprising Devi Moodley (Old Mutual head of cloud enablement), Itumeleng Monale (JSE COO), Melanie McGrory (AWS EMEA director of technology), Hepsy Mkhungo (One Linkage CEO and co-founder), Jyoti Ball (incoming GM for AWS Sub-Saharan Africa), and a few other industry heavy hitters, revealed the harsh realities of being a woman in tech. From the moment McGrory walked into her first interview, she was confronted with the age-old stereotype that women tend to leave the workforce when they become pregnant.
“We need to keep challenging these stereotypes,” McGrory emphasized. “Women are still being asked if they plan to have children, and it’s no wonder we’re still vastly underrepresented in the industry.”
Monale echoed McGrory’s sentiments, lamenting the fact that women often feel compelled to conform to traditional dress codes or be seen as “too feminine” to succeed in the tech world.
“You can’t just show up and be yourself,” Monale cautioned. “You have to be willing to take a stand and challenge the status quo if you want to see real change.”
As the conversation turned to statistics, the panelists were confronted with the sobering reality that women only hold 23% of tech roles globally – and an even smaller percentage in areas like cloud and DevOps.
“We can’t just sit back and wait for a magic solution to appear,” McGrory urged. “We need to take responsibility for creating change and making diversity, equity, and inclusion a top priority.”
The panellists also emphasized the importance of engaging little girls in STEM education from a young age, citing the success of programs in Eastern Europe and the Middle East that focus on girls from nursery school onwards.
“We’re starting too late in South Africa,” Moodley lamented. “Maths and science are seen as hard and exclusive, which is why we’re failing to produce a pipeline of female talent.”
Finally, the panelists stressed that a tech degree is not a prerequisite for a career in tech.
“The biggest myth is that you need a tech degree to be in tech,” Moodley said. “You can still have a successful career in tech without it. We need to break down those barriers and create more opportunities for women.”
The unvarnished truth is that women in tech are not just fighting for a seat at the table – they’re fighting for survival. It’s time for the tech industry to wake up and take responsibility for the change that needs to happen.
