Member Article

Gender bias remains London tech’s ‘Achilles heel’ despite efforts by tech firms

The lack of diversity amongst London’s tech workforce continues to dog tech firms in the capital as a new survey from Tech London Advocates (TLA) outlines the scale of gender bias in the industry.

According to a new survey of its members, TLA found that almost half (49.2%) of respondents believed that London’s technology sector is actively biased against women, despite efforts by companies to address the chronic imbalance.

Steps are being made to solve the problem, with 46% of tech companies supporting HR or recruitment strategies targeted at increasing diversity amongst their workforce, according to the 210 senior businesses leaders surveyed.

Figures released last summer by tech recruiter Mortimer Spinks showed London leading the way in terms of female tech roles, where it accounted for over 40% of the total female tech workforce in the UK.

However, the study of 3,700 working professionals also discovered that more than half of the respondents said that less than 15% of their teams are women, while one in ten of capital’s tech firms had no female employees at all.

In light of the continued diversity problem, Nikki Watkins, Co-Founder of TLA Women in Tech, commented: “We have stated from the outset that we believe companies are sabotaging their future success by not employing gender diverse workforces.

“Women bring both similar and unique abilities to companies which can make a difference to the bottom line through collaboration, collective intelligence and a non-groupthink mindset.”

Today’s study has been launched to coincide with TLA and TLA WomenInTech’s ‘Tomorrow’s Tech Success: Shattering uniformity & embracing change’ event taking place today (March 9) at Here East in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The event will also see the launch of two new commitments in order to promote the benefits of diverse workforces.

This includes a new ‘AAA’ endorsement which will recognise companies who make their diversity information public and a new mentoring programme for female founders at the helm of scaleup companies.

TLA Founder, Russ Shaw, believes that the lack of diversity and gender bias in the industry is London tech’s ‘achilles heel’ and that much still needs to be done to reach true equality.

He said: “Whether it be opening up immigration policy, increasing access to digital skills or empowering women to succeed in technology, we must unite to ensure world-class talent finds a home in London’s tech sector, regardless of race, age or gender.

“Enough is enough; more tech companies must demand better for the future.”