Women in Britain are still facing barriers when trying to get into tech-related roles, new data has revealed.

Research released ahead of London Tech Week discovered that 2022 will continue to be a year of obstacles to women entering the tech industry.

Data was obtained from a survey of more than 100 women working in technology roles ahead of International Women’s Day.

Around 68% of respondents said that gender perception is the biggest obstacle to women entering the tech industry.

Stereotyping and lack of support during schooling (60% and 48%) are the biggest barriers to entry for women getting started in tech, the results found.

Additionally, a lack of role models (57%) in the industry is having a negative impact on perspective employees.

Research shows women in tech are also far behind their male counterparts in terms of funding. However, there are some signs that this is changing, with an improving pipeline of women-led start-ups, many of whom are disrupters and innovators in their field.

To improve confidence in aiming for tech roles, the respondents agreed that areas such as seeing more leading women in tech championed in the press (60%), an increase in women-focused business events (49%) increased women-led funds (58%) and accelerator programmes dedicated to women founders (49%) would provide a boost.

Commenting on the news, Elka Goldstein, Interim CEO of London Tech Week’s conference, said: “We are seeing huge leaps forwards in rebalancing gender in tech, but there is still lots more to be done.

“We need to look at the systemic issues across the board, supporting women at just one level is not going to solve the problem. We need to be looking at solutions that start during women’s school age and span across their lifetime.”

The long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has also had a negative impact, with almost three quarters (72%) of respondents stating that their careers in tech are suffering due to childcare or care of other dependants in their household whilst juggling work.

Additionally, nearly half (48%) say that being forced to scale down their work and take time off to care for children has had a detrimental impact on their tech careers.

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Respondents agreed that, as well an increase in childcare provisions, women would prefer to see flexible working opportunities (62%), equal pay (68%), initiatives from companies to educate girls at school (57%), and mentorship programmes (55%) to improve their chances.

Providing non-technical staff with the opportunity to retrain (54%) and providing clear and well-documented progression opportunities (51%) are also seen as effective ways of helping women already working in tech.

Almost half (49%) of respondents agreed that more emphasis also must be placed on championing women role models.

Goldstein continued: “Educate in schools, create visible role models, provide access to skills programmes, and generate more opportunities for funding.

“It can’t be just one of these interventions it needs to be all of them. Society shapes stereotypes and creates biases that we need to address well before women even enter the workforce.”

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