I was at an event called Hack Your Career organized by Code First: Girls and hosted by Just Eat. The developers, designers and managers were very honest and even entertaining about their journeys into tech.
What got me thinking was a conversation after the event. The conversation (other women and male members of Just Eat were present) centred around job descriptions. For tech jobs in particular there is a psychological filter bias towards men.
Women will look at a job description and see that they tick 15 out of 16 boxes and so not apply. They take the application at face value. Men apply without all the qualifications thinking “well I know I can do the job and I want it”.
Now there was a plucky a young woman recently qualified in law saying women should have an attitude more like men. She applied for a job she didn't have the necessary experience for and although she did not get it she was given another opportunity from that interview. She got her foot in the door and her attitude paid off.
Now I applaud her but the “women need to change their attitude” approach to women in tech is problematic at best. Businesses need to realise there is a filter bias in their hiring.
But it is catch 22. Companies require quality not quantity in the applicants. Softening the wording of a job description may well lead to a higher volume of unsuitable male candidates (and make the company look less impressive). Yet how do they (or should they) accommodate for the fact that, on average, female candidates who are suitable for the position are less likely to apply for a technical job if they don’t meet the entire spec?
This is not just a matter for tech companies but the fact is there is a problem with diversity in tech and, I believe, the issue is amplified in STEM industries. I would feel more comfortable applying for a job in politics or law (if I knew someone who would help me get in) than I would for a developer role (even though I am a developer just not by job title). STEM work involves a lot of doing, not talking. You actually have to produce something physical. Woman are brought up knowing having children is the tangible thing they can do. Everything else requires proof.
Companies could apply a form of A-B testing. One can give a good guess at gender from browser history. Technically, your browser could serve one job description to female candidates and another to males. I'm not sure about this approach so I would like to ask you: Should companies show differently worded job applications to candidates depending on their gender?
