Status: 01/24/2023 09:25 a.m
According to a study, a higher proportion of women in Europe’s technology companies in Europe would boost the growth of the entire economy. The lack of female talent is particularly noticeable in the industry.
According to a study by the consulting firm McKinsey, the European economy loses billions of euros in economic output every year because the proportion of women in technology companies is too low. According to the study, it would open up great growth opportunities if the proportion of women in tech companies rose to 45 percent: Europe’s gross domestic product could then increase by up to 260 billion euros to 600 billion euros by 2027.
According to the study, only half as many jobs in this area in the EU Member States are currently occupied by women, at 22 percent. According to this, the EU labor market will lack between 1.4 million and 3.9 million workers in the technology environment by 2027. In Germany alone there are 780,000. And the increasing demand for workers in the industry cannot be covered in Europe by today’s talent pool, which is predominantly male.
‘The lack of gender diversity in Europe’s technology landscape leads to significant disadvantages for employees, innovation and European society as a whole,’ says one of the study’s authors, Sven Blumberg.
Too few STEM students
The educational and professional careers of women and men in Europe are still very different. In primary and secondary education, there is no evidence that boys are better at math or computer science than their female classmates, says co-author Melanie Krawina. In the so-called MINT disciplines at the university (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology) there is already “a first dramatic drop” to 38 percent. According to this, only 19 percent of young women decide to study information and communication technology.
And even after graduating from university, the proportion of women falls again. According to the McKinsey analysis, only 23 percent of STEM graduates end up in technology companies. For men, the figure is 44 percent.
Do managers bind female talent?
In order to increase the proportion of women in the industry, better support, more flexible working models or better childcare are needed. Companies need to do a better job of retaining women and giving them a reason to stay in the tech industry. They also recommend introducing the retention of female talent as an important performance indicator for the evaluation of executives.
Although the proportion of women on the management floors of German listed companies has increased in recent years, women remain underrepresented. The change is strongest in the 40 stock market heavyweights of the leading German index, the DAX. According to the information, the proportion of women is 21.2 percent. 85 percent of the companies have at least one woman on the executive board. In addition, female managers are increasingly being asked to fill vacant positions. At the reporting date, however, only twelve percent of the board members of the 50 companies from the MDAX, i.e. the smaller companies, were female.