The second Tuesday in October marks Ada Lovelace Day, a day where we celebrate the achievements of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths). Ada herself was regarded as the world’s first female computer programmer back in 1833, and yet in 2017, there is still such an apparent gender imbalance in this industry, which is why days like today are so important to help raise awareness and encourage more women to get involved in STEM.
In 1833 Ada Lovelace helped Charles Babbage develop a device called the ‘Analytical Engine’; an early predecessor of the modern computer. She worked for years alongside Babbage to refine the engine and was recognised as the first computer programmer before she sadly died of cancer aged 36. Her remarkable vision and passion for technology have made her a dominant symbol for women in technology over the years and with the power of social media hopefully, more people than ever will recognise her achievements today – #AdaLovelaceDay is currently trending on Twitter!
As a technical recruitment company we regularly read articles about the tech industry, and our employees all champion “women in tech”, but there is still a huge shortage of women in this field. According to a study from ISACA.ORG, the top 5 barriers experienced by women in tech are a lack of mentors, lack of female role models in the field, gender bias in the workplace, unequal growth opportunities, unequal pay for the same skills.
As companies are forced to become more and more transparent about their practices with the popularity of sites such as Glassdoor we should hope to see an impact on business practices and culture to help rectify these concerns. It will certainly be interesting as recruiters to see how these trends change over the next few years, hopefully to find equality in STEM and even more innovations in technology and computer science.
Click here to see #AdaLovelaceDay on Twitter.
