Research shows that diverse teams perform better. By employing people from different backgrounds, races, genders, and experiences, we can foster an environment that welcomes all kinds of different perspectives and diverse ideas.
The underrepresentation of women in tech is an important topic, one you’ve probably heard all about. But why is this topic so important? Why do we care?
In 2015, Apple was in the news for a glaring oversight to their Health app. According to their website, this app is supposed to “make it easy to learn about your health” and to help people track their health goals. However, in their iOS 9 release, the Health app did not support the ability for women to track their reproductive health – an oversight that affects nearly half of their customers. An oversight that could have been easily avoided if there was better representation of women engineers.
Apple later owned this oversight and is making amends for its lack of diversity. This issue with the Health app is a perfect example of why having a balance of men and women engineers is essential to continued innovations and solutions. With the underrepresentation of women in technology, there are so many problems that have yet to be solved. Or worse – oversights that are impacting thousands of customers.
Having more women in technology will help us to approach and solve problems in different ways – ways that can positively impact users. Having these different perspectives will lead to innovative solutions, new products, and increased revenue. Not to mention, by having more women in tech, it will help encourage young women to pursue more careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
What can you do? Start the conversation. Make sure it’s a apart of everything you do. Talk to your kids. Talk to your friends and family. Remember, doing nothing or not having to think about it is a privilege, but for others, it’s their life.