Why are women actively self-selecting out of the technology sector? Newnham College and the Wo+Men’s Leadership Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School tackled the issue, in a day-long seminar hosted in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline and Microsoft.
“Women are grossly under-presented in the tech (STEM) sector and tech roles,” explains Prof Sucheta Nadkarni, a Fellow of Newnham College and Director of the Wo+Men’s Leadership Centre at the Cambridge Judge Business School. “Whereas most of the discussion has been focused on a paucity of women in STEM education, one key aspect is that has not received as much attention is that women may self-select themselves out of such roles. Even women with engineering, science and other backgrounds may seek non-tech jobs and sectors. Similarly, women with non-tech backgrounds may choose not to enter the tech sector. The recent Silicon Valley stories of the treatment of women in the tech sector is further exacerbating this issue.”
Victoria Kimonides (Strategy accounts director, Microsoft), an alumna of Newnham College, together with Prof. Nadkarni and Dame Carol Black, decided to take concrete action. Working together, they devised this major annual seminar aimed directly at encouraging more females to enter the tech sector and tech roles, through close collaborations with companies that are leaders in their sectors.
The workshop took an unusual inter-disciplinary approach, bringing together 70 women from across the University of Cambridge to work together in groups to solve big strategic issues facing tech organisations. After the workshop, mentoring from executives will promote reflection, learning and further development.
Prof Nadkarni explained, “This workshop allows participants to understand real cases and issues facing tech companies and to hear first-hand from executives involved in making these decisions on the challenges and opportunities. The UN has stressed that handling the issue of gender parity requires close collaboration between the corporations and educational institutions and this is an exemplar initiative.”
Executives from GSK and Microsoft led “challenge” sessions involving real-world issues affecting their companies, and addressing the leadership principles designed to meet those challenges. The GSK challenge focused on “Science, Technology and Culture”, while the Microsoft challenge looked at “Embracing Digital Success”.
Gary Williams, EMEA Solution Sales Manager at Microsoft, said, “I was privileged to join this talented group and having the opportunity to work with them for this workshop. I loved hearing the insights and learning from the fresh perspectives to some challenges that face our business every day. The energy and passion in the room was infectious.”
Thomas Spangberg, EMEA Sales Manager at Microsoft, said “I was really impressed by the high quality of the work and the strong passion from everyone in the room.”
Newnham College’s Principal, Prof Dame Carol Black, was delighted to support the workshop, saying, “Despite the outstanding potential of women studying STEM subjects at University, women remain underrepresented in the STEM industries. Events such as this are one of the many ways that Newnham, as a women’s college, can enable our students to fulfil their potential and overturn barriers to participation. We are delighted to collaborate with CJBS on this annual initiative.”