Bristol can make a difference when it comes to women in technology

Don’t underestimate the power of a city with a difference to change politics and culture around women in technology.

This week we’ve heard that more IT firms are heading out to the West Country. Six digital firms are coming to Bristoland Bath.  The British Silicon Valley is set to be booming as Bristol and Bath have more high-tech digital firms than any other area of the UK, outside London.

As people get excited about the prospect of new jobs as firms announce plans to recruit in Bristol – is this good news for women in Bristol? Gender continues to be an issue for technology jobs. A recent meeting I’ve attended with a giant in the airspace industry revealed that under 10% of their jobs are taken up by women, and most of them are in female dominated roles such as HR, Communications, and admin. Technology insights report revels that of the 753,000 people working in the IT sector, just one in five (20%) are women.

Women have so much more to offer to the industry. We all hear about powerful women in IT, such as Facebook COO Cheryl Sandberg, or the CEO of IBM Virginia Rometty, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, or Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitma. The list can go on.

But we do not have to look so far in search of women who are transforming STEM (Science, technology, Engineering and Maths) industries. Some amazing Bristol women have shared their experiences of working in STEM in the new summer issue of BristolWoman. IT Expert Elena Hensinger urges all women to get geeky. She successfully runs local enterprise At Home with IT. Entrepreneur Angela Fumpson discusses with our readers the key to success for women in the Technology revolution. She has worked as an engineer all her life and is currently running her own company.

In one of our articles, local expert Catherine Dunford examines what the future holds for women in STEM – calling for a shift in politics and culture. Perhaps Bristol can take a lead on this. We live in a very special city. A city that likes to make a difference. As we are looking to expand our IT expertise, let’s fully engage women and make a difference.

On a practical level, Bristol Woman currently runs girls groups in several schools across the city. We would love to partner with IT companies and work wit the girls to embrace the industry.