After a tongue-in-cheek conversation with a colleague about the Women’s World Cup, I got thinking: Where are the women?
My colleague stated that he was impressed with the woman’s game – they were not as bad as he thought they would be. I obviously got on my soapbox and pointed out a few home truths:
- Boys are coached in football from the age of about 5 – girls are not.
- Boys play football competitively at school – girls don’t.
- There are hardly any female professional football players who can afford to have football as their main job. The majority earn about £20,000 from their clubs and some are on as little as £50 per week.
- There is no money in women’s football, so the best coaches, facilities etc. will go elsewhere….men’s football.
- Until women’s football gets the same level of investment in their sport, they will never be at the same level. It’s all uphill.
- Those who are playing are the most talented and the most passionate and the most determined – they have succeeded against all the odds.
My colleague did back off then!
I, however, got thinking – where are the women in tech? Are they getting the same raw deal? I read an interesting article in the Guardian. I was intrigued by the response by Peter Gothard:
Peter let me make this clear: women do not want or need tokenism. There are amazing women in tech – indeed there is an article on the ‘100 Most Influential Tech Women on Twitter’. My point is this – like women’s football, if you bother to look you will see über talented women who are the most talented, passionate and determined, because to succeed you have to do so against the odds, and on less money. But, if the tech industry keeps on doing the ‘same old’, then we are missing out on the most talented, passionate and determined – those are the ones who will inspire us all, whatever our gender.
Here are more great women leading they way in tech.
I am very proud to work for a company that has, in its main office, more than 50% female employees. Ratio Creative : putting its money where its mouth is.