SEA’s women in tech face lockdown barriers to career progression, says Kaspersky report

01/24/2021 03:40:02 PM 

The women have spoken, and almost half of them based in Southeast Asia said while the lockdown brought by the COVID-19 pandemic has been a positive industry shift, they blamed its effects for hindering their career progress. All that despite 64 percent of them believing that much-needed gender equality is more likely to be achieved through remote working structures. 

Do social biases have something to do with the hindrance to this potential breakthrough period? Possibly, as Kaspersky's new Women In Tech report cited that almost a third of women (25%) from the region working in the tech industry do indeed prefer working at home to working in the office. . A similar number report they work most efficiently when working from home, and as many as 28% revealed they have more autonomy when not working in an office, a tad lower than the global results at 33%.

However, Where are we now? Understanding the evolution of women in technology exploited the concerning statics which emphasized another point, pertaining to why the potential of remote working for women in tech isn’t quite being matched by social progression in this ‘working from home’ dynamic. 

The press release from Kasperksy said that 46 percent of Southeast Asian women working in technology have struggled to juggle work and family life since March 2020. This trend is at its most prominent in North America but is a consistent worldwide trend. 

Delving deeper, and the reasons for this imbalance become clearer. When female respondents were asked about the day-to-day functions that are detracting from productivity or work progression, 66% said they had done the majority of cleaning in the home, 68% had been in charge of homeschooling and 56% of women have had to adapt their working hours in order to look after the family. As a result, 48% of women believe that the effects of COVID-19 have actually delayed, rather than enhanced, their overall career progression.

“The effect of the pandemic broadly differed for women. Some appreciated the greater flexibility and lack of commute from working at home, whilst others shared that they were on the verge of burnout. It’s paramount that companies ensure their managers are aligned with their strategy to support employees with caregiving responsibilities.

“The other significant trend that the pandemic has accelerated is the co-existence of remote and hybrid employees within the same organization. This can be a challenge for women working remotely as they may experience less access to top management working from offices. This may decrease their chances to be considered for the kind of stretch assignments that lead to promotions. Employers need to be conscious of those disadvantages and plan accordingly to minimize them,” said Dr Patricia Gestoso, Head of Scientific Customer Support at BIOVIA, 2020 Women in Software Changemakers winner, and prominent member of professional women’s network, Ada’s List.

While these examples of social disparity aren’t tech-specific, they do point towards a barrier that is preventing women from capitalizing on the past year’s shift to remote working. As many as 46% of women in tech from SEA (compared to 39% of men) believe an equal working environment would be best for career progression, and 64% think that remote working is an optimum way to achieve that equality. The tech sector must now leverage its own encouraging momentum in the hope that social stereotypes enable this chain of events in the months and years to come.

Merici Vinton, Co-Founder, and CEO at Ada’s List adds: "Companies need to signal, both through culture and policy, that they will give working parents of both genders the flexibility they need during COVID (and beyond). Companies need to understand that representation does matter and having women in leadership, majority-women teams, and women in interviews demonstrate that there's space for women in their company. Finally, we see lots of successful companies partner with external women's organizations who can challenge you, push you forward, and also provide external inspiration for your employees.”

“If the tech realm takes the lead and ensures a more flexible and balanced environment for women, then it will become the norm more quickly, which is more likely to trigger a change in social dynamics too. As always, it won’t change overnight, but there are signs that women are feeling more empowered to rightly demand this way of working. Moving forward, we as an industry must build on this momentum, extract the positives from the past year’s transition to flexible working, and be a catalyst for wider social change as a result,” Evgeniya Naumova, Vice President of the Global Sales Network at Kaspersky, said in conclusion.

Author: slickmaster | © 2021 The SlickMaster's Files