Numerology: For many women, working in the tech sector still doesn’t compute

Female representation has risen in all Canadian STEM careers except computer science, which has seen a 17 per cent decline since 1991

By Melissa Edwards / February 22, 2017

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56% That’s the mid-career quit rate for women in the lucrative computer technology sector—the highest across the sciences and more than double the rate for men. As March brings the 118th International Women’s Day, female representation has risen in all Canadian STEM careers except computer science, which has seen a 17 per cent decline since 1991.

“The tech sector is where young women are fighting the good fight in terms of leadership, and we’re not seeing anything close to parity,” says Samantha Jo Simmonds of B.C. women’s leadership advocacy group the Minerva Foundation, which is launching a study this year to learn more about women in the province’s tech sector. “It’s wearing for women to be the only female voice on the floor, and I think that’s part of why they’re leaving.”