Half of women in tech experienced sexism in 2022

Staggering and unacceptable facts revealed by Web Summit survey about women in technology

Over the last 12 months, half of the women in the technology industry have experienced sexism in the workplace, a new survey has revealed.

Web Summit, the world’s largest technology event, has just released findings from its women in the technology community survey, which aimed to gauge sentiment among women in technology about the state of gender equality over the last three years.

Some key takeaways are that 49.5 per cent of women in the technology sector have experienced sexism in the last year, 66.9 per cent feel they are paid unfairly compared to their male counterparts, 62.9 per cent feel pressure to choose between career and family at least some of the time and 92.4 per cent feel confident in their own ability to do their job, but 70 per cent feel they have to work harder to prove themselves to others because of their gender.

The survey was distributed through email to all women at the Web Summit conference who work in the international technology community.

The majority of respondents (70.4 per cent) were aged between 25 and 44. Europe was the best-represented geographic area, accounting for 78.5 per cent of respondents.

The survey found that 70 per cent of respondents have been made to feel that, because of
their gender, they need to work harder in order to prove themselves in their roles.

In the 2019 survey of Web Summit’s women in the technology community, just 44 per cent said they felt
pressure to prove their worth when compared with their counterparts who were men.

Regarding the gender ratio in the technology industry, equality appears to be moving in reverse. Just under a quarter (24 per cent) of respondents said the gender ratio in the industry had become more balanced in the last 12 months – almost half the number (42 per cent) that said the same thing three years ago.

There was also a significant drop in the percentage of women who believed they were paid fairly when compared to their male counterparts. In 2019, 46.4 per cent of respondents thought themselves to be paid fairly, while in 2022 this figure fell to 33.1 per cent.

The survey also found that 86.3 per cent believed that their government is not doing enough to combat gender inequality, up from 82.5 per cent in the 2019 survey.

Since the 2019 survey, there has been no progress regarding workplace efforts to combat gender equality, with 53.5 per cent of 2022 respondents feeling that their workplace is making an adequate effort. This is effectively the same as in 2019, when 53.95 per cent believed the same. The proportion of respondents who believed women were offered leadership positions to fill quotas has remained steady at around 40 per cent.

“Women should feel empowered and motivated in the technology industry. To discover that a large portion of women in technology still experiences sexism within the workplace is disheartening. At Web Summit, we aim to ensure our events are environments in which the women in the technology community can thrive, and we hope that these findings will help continue the conversation,” said Carolyn Quinlan, VP of community at Web Summit.

The results of this survey follow a report by European Women in VC that highlighted that all-female startups secured just two per cent of all funding in 2021, down from three per cent in 2020.