ISACA: What Can be Done About Tech’s Gender Gap?

In a time where digital transformation drives global economic growth, an issue remains that is holding the technology sector back.

Persistent gender imbalance is still a critical challenge that demands attention, for not just the sake of ethics and inclusion, but also innovation and development.

Companies across the world are waking up to the realisation that this battle isn’t over, releasing studies that prove the issue persists as well as what can be done about it.

For instance, earlier this year, SAP’s study: More Women in Tech: Industry Fuels Trend to a New Innovation Culture, found that specific sectors within the technology face specific challenges.

One challenge being how AI is leading to new roles beyond traditional programming, such as data scientist, prompt engineer, ethics expert and user experience designer, but SAP warned of the potential for AI to perpetuate gender biases, as the data used to train AI systems often reflects existing societal imbalances.

“AI inherits bias from the humans who program it, who, more often than not, are white men”, as Eva Zauke, Global Head of SAP Enterprise Adoption pointed out.

Adding to this important research, ISACA's comprehensive Tech Workplace and Culture report has shed new light on this enduring issue, this time revealing a striking disconnect between industry awareness and actionable change.

Barriers to women's advancement in tech

In the study, ISACA identified several key factors contributing to the gender imbalance in technology roles - and the results are telling of the substantial gap between recognition and meaningful action.

For instance, while the ISACA report demonstrates that the IT industry broadly acknowledges the gender gap as a pressing issue, only 41% of organisations have concrete plans to increase female hiring.

This disconnect is especially noteworthy given that numerous studies have linked diverse teams to enhanced innovation, improved problem-solving capabilities and stronger financial performance.

Additionally, according to 43% of female respondents, the predominance of male IT role models and leaders serves as a significant barrier and this perception was shared by 21% of male participants.

Moreover, pay inequality emerged as another major concern, with 42% of women citing it as an obstacle compared to just 15% of men.

This disparity in perspectives suggests the need for greater awareness hand in hand with action on gender pay gaps within the industry.

The survey also revealed notable differences in how men and women perceive their authority in various aspects of their roles.

For example, men consistently rated their sense of authority higher across different areas, with the largest gaps observed in making purchasing decisions (13% difference) and contributing to company strategy and direction (10% difference).

Addressing the gender gap through education and mentorship

Looking into what can be done about the issue, ISACA primarily highlights educational institutions having a crucial role to play in fostering gender inclusion in tech and survey respondents drew several strategies that could make a difference:

• 52% recommended providing mentors or role models for women in tech
• 42% suggested establishing tech clubs and networking organisations for women
• 31% advocated for hiring more female tech professors

Julia Kanouse, Chief Membership Officer at ISACA, emphasises the importance of increasing “the representation of women in the IT and technology sector” and what “needs to be done to welcome their leadership and influence.”

She continues: "This will not only help to address the global skills gap and boost productivity in the sector – it will also create a more inclusive and diverse working environment.”

Career satisfaction and progression

However, despite these challenges, the survey found some positive indicators regarding career satisfaction and progression.

Approximately 68% of women and 72% of men reported being extremely or very satisfied with their career advancement.

Furthermore, 73% of women and 71% of men said they had received a salary increase or promotion within the past two years.

Yet these figures should be viewed in the context of broader industry trends.

Women currently hold only 26.7% of tech-related jobs, according to multiple sources including data from the US tech industry.

Moreover, the percentage of women in all tech-related careers has actually decreased over the last two years.

This proves that the gender pay gap in tech remains a significant issue, with women in software engineering reportedly earning 93 cents for every dollar that men in the field make.

Global gender disparities in the tech industry

The situation varies significantly across different regions, with some countries making more progress than others.

Nordic countries, for instance, have generally achieved higher rates of female representation in tech roles, while many other nations continue to struggle with deeply embedded cultural and structural barriers.

However, the fundamental challenges facing women in technology remain remarkably consistent across geographical boundaries, suggesting as the study points out, that this is a systemic issue requiring coordinated global solutions.

This disparity is even more pronounced for women of colour, with Latina and Black women typically earning around US$52,000 per annum compared to US$85,000 for white, non-Hispanic men.

Sarah Orton, UK and Europe lead for ISACA's SheLeadsTech initiative, says on the findings: “Having a workforce of people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to bring to the table is not only the right thing to do – it's also a business imperative that makes an organisation more innovative and its work that much more efficient and effective.”

However, Sarah also highlights the progression that has been made: “Encouragingly, women have near-equal career progression satisfaction to their male counterparts and are slightly more likely to have received a raise or a promotion in the last two years. 

“Progress has been made – but the sector has more work to do, and ISACA is supporting this important work.”

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