(Brussels 03 October) The Commission department responsible for Communications Networks, Content & Technology (DG CONNECT)) has published the results of a study on Women active in the ICT sector.
Getting more girls interested in a digital career and getting more women into digital jobs would benefit the digital industry, women themselves and Europe’s economy. This is the key finding of the European Commission survey on women active in the ICT sector, published today.
According to the study, there are now too few women working in the ICT sector:
- Of 1,000 women with a Bachelors or other first degree, only 29 hold a degree in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) (as compared to 95 men), and only 4 in 1000 women will eventually work in the ICT sector.
- Women leave the sector mid-career to a greater extent than men and they are under-represented in managerial and decision-making positions (even more than in other sectors).
- Only 19.2% of ICT-sector workers have female bosses, compared to 45.2% of non-ICT workers.
But if the trend were reversed and women held digital jobs as frequently as men, the European GDP could be boosted annually by around € 9 billion (1.3 times Malta’s GDP), according to the study. The ICT sector would benefit since organisations which are more inclusive of women in management achieve a 35% higher Return on Equity and 34% better total return to shareholders than other comparable organisations.
Bringing more women into EU digital sector would bring €9 billion annual GDP boost, EU study shows (full press release):
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-905_en.htm
Women active in the ICT sector executive summary
http://bookshop.europa.eu/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/EU-Bookshop-Site/en_GB/-/EUR/ViewPublication-Start?PublicationKey=KK0113433
Women active in the ICT sector study
http://bookshop.europa.eu/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/EU-Bookshop-Site/en_GB/-/EUR/ViewPublication-Start?PublicationKey=KK0113432
