Women have long played a key role in science and technology. But aside from a small number of individuals such as Marie Curie, much of this work was done with little fanfare. Take, for example, NASA mathematicians Katherine Goble, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan. Their work was critical in the development of the U.S. space program, but due to both their gender and race, they faced significant discrimination in the workplace, and their story was little known until the release of the movie Hidden Figures in 2016.
Flipping the script, so to speak, a surprisingly large number of female actors have a background in science. As three recent examples, Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow both co-authored scientific papers, and Kristin Stewart helped develop a technique to use neural networks for image creation. While these women have become famous for their acting careers, their work in STEM is relatively unknown, which is a shame. Think what an inspiration it would be for aspiring scientists, technologists and mathematicians to see that some of their favorite actresses are just accomplished in the field, as they are in their more famous profession.
This historic lack of role models resonates with me. As a student and in the early stages of my career, the concept of STEM was limited to a small number of academics, and the push to have more gender parity in the technology field was in its infancy. Women had gained a higher profile in areas such as politics in the 1990s and early 2000s, but I had relatively few female role models to look toward in my chosen career path. Technology and math have always been a passion of mine, but I recall being in the minority among my contemporaries. Technology companies - and especially their boardrooms - were still male-dominated.
Fast forward to today and we have seen significant growth in the number of women in tech, although we still only represent 28% of the workforce. We’re also seeing more and more women in leadership roles at high-profile tech companies over the past two decades. HP was led by Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman (who had previously spent 10 years as CEO of eBay); Yahoo had Marissa Meyer as its CEO; YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki recently stepped down after nine years in the role; and Sheryl Sandberg became a key face of females in technology leadership during her tenure as COO at Meta. Most recently, former TV executive Linda Yaccarino was appointed as CEO of X.
The exception, not the rule
However, females remain the exception in technology company boardrooms. Only 15% of CEOs and 19% of SVP-level executives at tech firms are women, even though 40% of all U.S. businesses are women-owned. A big reason for this is that women leave the industry in significantly greater numbers than our male counterparts. Half of all women leave their jobs in technology by the age of 35, and female computer science majors are 22% less likely than males to have a job in the technology field.
Why is this? Just 21% of women (and 8% of women of color) believe that they can thrive in the technology industry, and women in tech companies earn 17.5% less on average than males. It’s clear that there is still a lot of work to be done to redress the imbalance. This should take many forms: encouraging more girls to look at STEM as a career option while they’re at school and university; providing mentoring throughout their careers; fostering a more equitable work environment and stamping out all forms of discrimination; and minimizing the reasons for women to leave the world of STEM careers.
Emburse’s leadership role
I’m proud of where Emburse stands in terms of the number of females that work here overall, and especially in leadership roles. Women make up more than 42% of our workforce, compared to 33% at technology companies overall. Forty-two percent of our managers are female, and 55% of our executive leadership team is female. I’m thrilled that in addition to myself as CEO, Emburse’s Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Accounting Officer, and Chief People Officer are all women. We also have a well-established employee resource group - CREW (Contributing to the Rise and Empowerment of Women), which offers educational and mentoring opportunities for women to progress their careers in the world of technology. On almost every metric, Emburse leads the national average for females in STEM, especially in leadership positions. We also have higher rates of women in leadership than all of the five largest tech companies.
While we should use Women’s History Month as a platform to celebrate these achievements at Emburse, we must also continue to strive for a more inclusive environment for women in technology. This isn’t about tokenism - there are countless data points showing how more gender-balanced organizations and leadership teams outperform those with lower gender diversity.
I’m committed to supporting a new generation of females who are looking to establish and advance their careers in STEM, and several of my colleagues across Emburse’s leadership leadership team also take an active mentoring role. We must ensure that women have an environment where their careers can thrive - breaking down barriers, fostering a supportive workplace, and celebrating the diversity of thought and capabilities that they bring.
So whether you’re a woman leader yourself, or a father, husband, brother or friend of an aspiring STEM leader, it’s up to us all to pay it forward to the next generation of innovators, and foster a supportive culture to help them thrive. Let’s use this month to celebrate those achievements and the sacrifices made by those who got us to this position, but let’s not forget that we still have a long way to go to deliver a more equitable environment for women in STEM. That’s something we all need to work toward, 365 days a year.