A broader range of ideas and perspectives, better decision-making, increased innovation, improved employee engagement and retention, and better understanding of customers to mention but a few are some of the benefits of having diversified human resources with lots of inclusion.

Diversity comes in different forms. For example, there are diverse cultures, languages, races, etc. in the world. These are all some basis on which the people that exist on the planet are diversified. However, in this article, we will be focusing on the diversity of gender. There are about two genders in the world; male and female. For a long time on the planet one of the genders- the male has greatly dominated the female in a lot of fields, especially in the field of work. Tech has become the reality of the day, so of course women are being dominated by men in the field.

Starting from the fact that women hold only about 26.7% of technology jobs, you can already tell that the remaining 73.3% belong to men. However, it is scarier to realize that of the 26.7% of women in tech only 10% of the holders of C-suite professional roles are women. These details are gory. It is clearly unfair especially since the unique gifts brought in by women are directly proportional to more impact and therefore more money being made by these companies.

By nature, women are more empathetic and the truth is that some of the products created by these tech companies are either being used by women for the most part or their purchase is highly influenced by the female gender. While a man may know more than the woman about the inner workings of a refrigerator and by it decide which has the best standard, at the end of the day, it is the woman that determines which one works best for her, which serves the salient needs of her family and therefore, which to buy. If this is the case there should be more women in the field where these things are produced. Their insight when not underestimated will do our world a whole lot of good.

Some benefits of diversity and inclusion in tech companies with regard to women include;

1. Broader range of ideas and perspectives:

Have you ever heard the quote “Ideas rule the world” before? I bet you have. Those words are very true. Facebook was somebody’s idea, the electric bulb was somebody’s idea, and your microwave was someone’s idea. When people think together even more amazing things happen, this is why agile has become the real thing now. However, the power of diversity in a team makes for even greater results.

The results are; more creativity, well-rounded products, and more customer-centric products which eventually lead to more money. These are the things that women bring to the table for the people that they work for. Most times what companies think about are their supposed losses as women get married, have children, take care of children, and generally manage the home. However, these perceived losses are nothing when compared to the insight and perspective that women bring into their work.

2. Better decision-making:

Naturally, a variety of ideas, perspectives, and experiences lead to more informed decision-making. It does not matter how many amazing ideas you come up with, what matters is how many are implemented; this is why Miles Munroe in his lifetime insisted that “the graveyard is the wealthiest place on the planet”. The more we know about something, the better decisions we make regarding it.
Let us not get into the argument about too few women in the C-suite roles in tech again. The bone of contention now is that the presence of women and their opinions in tech companies will drive better decision-making, leading to the design of products that are more widely accepted because they meet more needs, naturally, they will make more money in the long run so, the tech industry should be swarmed with women!

3. The need for more manpower:

At a time like this, even with the increase of automation in a lot of tech jobs, continents like Europe are still running short of manpower in the tech industry. Isn’t recruiting more women the next logical thing to do? According to Mckinsey, women occupy only 22 percent of all tech roles across Europe. According to them, addressing this shortfall is about much more than doing the right thing; it’s an economic necessity.

4. Increased innovation:

This is a simple consequence of a heterogeneous company. People think differently and value things differently; this very difference is what makes a diverse group very effective. With women on board, there will be more innovation than there currently is. Much research has shown that women are more empathetic than men. Maybe this is a result of evolution since we have had to carry babies, nurture them, birth them, and raise them, so empathy has been reinforced in our makeup over the millennium of our existence or maybe it is because we are simply that- more empathetic! Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. What do we call design thinking which is the order of the day today? It is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of your customers entirely in the design of a product.

Is it not clear then that a workplace with few women whose opinions are worth nothing is not just incomplete but headed for the worst? Women bring in the full picture, we round things out. This is why we are needed in the tech industry. If these men are really out to make a difference in the world, as they say, we cannot be missing from their team.

5. Improved employee engagement and retention:

I have had several female friends tell me something along these lines “I could not say anything in the meeting because I am the only female there” or “I could not disagree with him at all, we are only there women that work in that firm”. Employing few women defeats the purpose entirely because they will always be in survival mode and never thrive. They can sense that the environment is not very accepting of them and so they are very far from giving their best. One thing that gives them this cue is when they are made rare species in the workplace.

if you want to employ more women, retain more women, and if you want to retain more women, employ more women. Companies should not make women feel like they have to double the results of their male counterparts to remain relevant in the company. For even more reasons why women are desperately needed in the tech space click away.