இங்கிலாந்தில் இலங்கை, சகோதரியின் சாதனை

                         Sifaya Vellaithamby

இங்கிலாந்தில் இலங்கை சகோதரியின் சாதனை

I am a lead technical architect in digital, data and technology at the UK Home Office. I am a mum of two and was born and brought up in a Muslim background in Sri Lanka. I immigrated to the UK at the age of 27 and started my career in technology in the private sector with various roles such as a tech engineer, consultant and architect. It was a challenging journey to balance the roles as a mum, wife and an architect, but ultimately I achieved a highly responsible role in a male dominated technology sector. My message to all the women out there is to break the barriers, trust in yourself and believe that your voice matters. Most importantly it's no longer about having an “if I can" mindset - now it’s more about “how I can”, so just make a start.

Tech Talent Charter Launches ‘Doing It Anyway’ Campaign To Drive More Diversity To The UK Tech Sector

 October 20, 2020

Tech Talent Charter

It’s not a secret that women are underrepresented in the UK tech sector, and the pace of change is slow. In 2017 the UK Government’s Digital Strategy estimated that just 17% of people who work in the tech sector and only 9.5% of students taking computer science A level courses are female. Yet women make up almost half of the workforce. A 2019 report from WISE put the number at 16%. The Covid-19 crisis has highlighted even more differences between genders: 65.1% of BAME women reported anxiety as a result of having to go out to work during the pandemic, while 41.0% of them reported working more than they did before the pandemic.

The Tech Talent Charter (TTC), a non-profit organization with the mission of addressing the inequality in the UK tech sector, in collaboration with Global, PwC, HP, and the Institute of Coding, launched a ‘Doing It Anyway’ campaign today featuring real women from a variety of backgrounds who have found careers in technology through non-traditional paths, with the aim of encouraging working-age women to consider a career in tech.

“The tech industry needs diverse skills to succeed and there are a number of different issues that affect this, from education, unconscious bias, and the challenges of returning to work after starting a family, to name a few. All of these are hugely important, but investment in education takes years to pay off, and we want to see the tech industry change now,” Sinead Bunting, co-founder of the Tech Talent Charter, tells me.

Diversity Of Teams = Business Success

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A 2019 survey from HP and the Fawcett Society found that 70% of young women would be interested in a job in the sector and that 45% of women who do not work in a technical role expressed a willingness to retrain in a technical job (e.g. coding) – something that could be addressed through re-skilling or up-skilling programs in the workplace. Additionally, better showcasing the variety of careers in tech could help encourage more women and girls into the field during school and into their careers.

“There are many different paths into tech roles and companies looking for women with diverse experiences right now to join their teams are out there. Research we carried out earlier this year suggested that 68% of business decision-makers still consider diversity vital for their business success despite the pandemic, so we believe it’s never been more important to address this issue”, Bunting adds.

Tech Talent Charter’s focus is predominantly on encouraging organizations to sign-up to the charter (currently, almost 500 have signed up) and facilitating collaboration across organizations and across sectors, but for this campaign, its team decided to approach the challenge from a different angle.

“Having helped join the dots with organizations, we felt that this time we needed to talk to women and under-represented groups directly if we were to really drive change and deliver upon our mission. We started by asking our signatories if they had any women working in tech roles who’d got there through unusual routes and if they’d be willing to share those stories with us to feature in our campaign. We received over 300 responses,” says Bunting. 

“The message of this campaign is women already have the everyday skills that lend themselves to a successful career in tech. By highlighting some of the opportunities open to women of all ages and from all backgrounds, we hope to inspire them to have the confidence to take the next step and explore how they can get started with a career in this space. We NEED women of all kinds to bring their skills to the UK tech sector in order for it to thrive,” she concludes.