Parents increasingly encouraging daughters into careers in technology

#WomeninSTEM – Reed has remastered its rapidly expanding Women in Technology Mentoring Programme on leading mentoring and coaching platform Guider.

The platform helps businesses scale their mentoring and coaching initiatives by automating the matching process and providing insightful data.

• As Reed’s Women in Technology Mentoring Programme relaunches, research shows parents are encouraging girls into technology
• 76% of parents feel technology is a good future career for their daughters
• Only 4% perceive it to be too male dominated for females to succeed
• New generation of women in tech emerging
• Conversely, research shows that 74% of those women currently working in technology were over 18 before they ever considered it as a career choice

To mark the relaunch, leading recruitment firm Reed has undertaken research into both those who are part of the programme, and parents of young girls in education to gauge how perceptions are shifting when it comes to females succeeding in the technology industry.

In a survey of more than 500 UK parents of girls aged between five and 18 years old, more than half (52%) felt that it was likely that their daughter would have a career in technology, with half (51%) saying their daughters express a keen interest in technology both at home and in education.

Three quarters of parents (76%) reportedly feel that technology is a good career for their daughters with only 4% stating that they felt it was too male dominated.

Conversely, those already taking part in the Reed Women in Technology Mentoring Programme – – women already working in technology – nearly three quarters of them were over 18 years of age before considering a career in the sector, with 80% never thinking they’d end up working in tech.

More than 72% say they had no technology role models growing up, while 65% of parents surveyed feel that more role models representative of their children would be a huge encouragement for their daughters to focus on a career in technology.

Kevin Dainty, who founded and runs the Women in Technology Mentoring Programme at Reed, said:

“I’m very passionate about getting the best talent into the technology sector and with half the population historically finding it a tricky sector to enter and to succeed in, the mentoring programme has given countless women a peer group and role models who can encourage and advise them as they ascend in their career.

“The research we’ve carried out is so encouraging, seeing parents increasingly recognise technology as an excellent career choice for their daughters, and their confidence in actively encouraging it as a future profession shows that schemes like ours are helping to attract more talent into the sector.

“It shows how vital these programmes are at challenging perceptions of the industry and paving the way for the next generation of talent to come into the sector. While we’re facing a potentially stark skills shortage in the industry, we need to continue to offer women in technology the opportunity to develop their skills and open the door for future talent.”

Nick Ross, CEO at Guider says:

“Our mentoring platform gives mentors and mentees more visibility into their progress, and accurately matches people based on desired skills and experience. Reed, which launched its flagship Women in Tech mentoring scheme three years ago, made the decision to switch to Guider to improve user experience, scale the programme, and better measure the impact of the mentoring relationships. We’re delighted to be supporting this powerful initiative.”