https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1718-7134
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Abstract
This study aims to contribute to understanding the gender biases that emerge in the digital technology-related field. More specifically we concentrate on examining whether gender gaps are diminishing or are persistent in terms of women’s enrollment in technology-related programs at the tertiary level of education and for female STEM graduates. Next, this evidence is confronted with gender biases in the labor market regarding changing female and male employment in high-tech sectors; we detect whether gender gaps grow or diminish in this respect. Our data cover 29 European countries in the period 2011–2020 and are extracted from World Economic Forum reports, Eurostat, and UNESCO databases. Our methodological framework combines time trends analysis, cross-country inequalities, distributional changes, and non-parametric approximations examining relationships between variables. Our major conclusions support the view of negligibly diminishing gender inequalities in technology-related education and demonstrate increasing gender gaps regarding high-tech employment.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 “Women make up only 17.5% of the tech workforce worldwide, and hold just 5% of leadership positions” (https://en.unesco.org/news/closing-digital-skills-gender-divide).
2 For instance, “in Belgium only 6% of ICT graduates are women, while in the United Arab Emirates this figure is 58%. This paradox, observed here for the first time and explored in detail, underscores the need for measures to encourage women’s inclusion in digital skills education in all countries” (https://en.unesco.org/EQUALS/ICT-GE-paradox).
3 In case of some variables the period of analysis is shorter due data unavailability in precedent periods.
4 Refers to population aged 20–29.
5 Refers to population aged 20–64.
6 Refers to population aged 20–64.
7 Refers to Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (from 2008 onwards, NACE Rev. 2)
8 High-tech industry and knowledge-intensive sectors are alternatively labelled high-tech sectors, which refers to all manufacturing and services activities, products traded and patents applied selected on the basis of their technological intensity [see: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:High-tech]
9 Technically speaking it presents women′s performance in four dimensions: health and survival, educational attainment, economic participation and opportunity, and political empowerment.
10 For details see Global Gender Gap Report (Citation2020).
11 For data extracted from Eurostat – classification codes available in Table 3A in appendix.
12 Authors’ calculations.
13 Authors’ calculations.
14 see Eurostat country-level data on Students enrolled in tertiary education in ICT related programs.
15 As share of total employment, following NACE Rev.2 classification.
16 According to Eurostat data, in 2020 in European Union, slightly more than 6000 thousands of men were employed in high-tech sectors, while women – 2900 thousands.
17 Belgium (drop by −0.2%pp) and Hungary (drop by −0.2%pp).
18 Ireland and the United Kingdom.
19 the ratio of the wage of woman to that of a man in a similar position
20 the ratio of the total wage and non-wage income of women to that of men
21 High Level Debate on Gender Equality: Women and Girls in STEM – 26 April 2022, https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/mauritius/high-level-debate-gender-equality-women-girls-stem-26-april-2022_en?s=293
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Notes on contributors
Ewa Lechman
Professor Ewa Lechman, since 2002, has worked at the Faculty of Management and Economics at Gdańsk University of Technology. Since 2017, she has been Vice-Dean for Development, Director of the University Scientific Council for Social Sciences, and Ph.D. Programme Director. Her extensive research interests concentrate on economic development, ICT and technological progress, and its role in reshaping social and economic systems and various aspects of poverty and economics in developing countries. She coordinates and participates in international research and educational projects and works as an independent expert assisting with innovation assignments, including evaluating small and medium enterprise proposals, EU-financed programs, and policy design regarding innovativeness, digitalization, education and social exclusion. She was the 2013 winner of an Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence and is a member of the editorial boards of international journals on technology diffusion, the digital economy and economic development. She serves as a permanent referee in Policy&Internet (Oxford University Press), Technological Forecasting and Social Change (Elsevier), World Development (Elsevier), Technology in Society (Elsevier), Journal of Applied Research and Technology (Elsevier), Social Indicators Research (SpringerNature), Journal of Business Cycle Research (SpringerNature), Journal of Development Studies (Taylor&Francis), NETNOMICS (SpringerNature), Neural Computing and Applications (SpringerNature), Eurasian Economic Review (SpringerNature), et alia. In 2017–2019 she was nominated by Elsevier as an outstanding reviewer. Currently, she coordinates and/or is the main investigator in three research grants on ICT diffusion trajectories and technological take-off (National Science Center), Exchange-traded funds development (National Science Center), and technological development for financial markets (CERGE-GDN).
Magdalena Popowska
Dr. Magdalena Popowska is a researcher and lecturer of Organization Science and Entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Management and Economics of the Gdańsk University of Technology. For many years she was in charge of internationalization processes, between 2008 and 2016 she was Vice-Dean for International and Public Affairs, and then a Dean’s Proxy for International Cooperation. She has been a visiting scholar at many European universities: Neoma Business School, University of Florence, Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, La Rochelle Business School. Today, her research is mainly focused on corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship education. She has been participating in several EU projects (TEMPUS, INTERREG, Erasmus+) and is leader of an Intensive Programme (summer school) within LLP.