The Tech Talent Charter has launched its first ever creative campaign designed to tackle gender inequality in the UK tech sector.
The campaign, entitled ‘Doing It Anyway’ aims to encourage working-age women to consider a career in tech, and features images of women from a variety of backgrounds who have found careers in technology through inspiring, non-traditional paths. The women were selected from more than 300 candidates nominated by Tech Talent Charter signatories, and invited to take part in an exclusive photoshoot with Tatjana Galic at the Rankin creative agency.
The outdoor, social and digital adverts, featuring the striking images of the women and the stories of their personal journeys into their tech roles, highlight the need for more women in technology roles. The link directs people to a directory housed at www.techtalentcharter.co.uk of more than 300 vacancies, courses and retraining programmes run by Tech Talent Charter signatories and the wider tech industry.
“Women’s careers have been disproportionately affected by the Coronavirus outbreak, explained Co-founder and author of the Tech Talent Charter, Sinead Bunting. “Despite this, we know that many companies are actively recruiting women and people from minority backgrounds into tech roles within their organisations. At the Tech Talent Charter we aim to connect the dots and highlight some of the opportunities open to women of all ages and from all backgrounds.
“The message of this campaign is women already have the everyday skills that lend themselves to a successful career in tech and that we NEED women of all kinds to bring their skills to the UK tech sector in order for it to thrive. We hope by seeing the campaign, it will inspire women to have the confidence to take the next step and explore how they can get started with a career in tech.”
The UK tech sector suffers from significant gender inequality, with only around 17% of tech roles being held by women. Research by HP and the Fawcett Society has shown that 45% of women in other roles would be interested in retraining into a tech role but 32% did not believe they had the right qualifications. The Tech Talent Charter is a series of commitments by signatories to address the gender balance of their tech teams, and this campaign highlights the opportunities that exist for women who are interested in joining the tech sector.
The women featured in the campaign are:
- Honesty Haynes-Williams, a digital marketer from London.
- Sifaya Vellaithamby, a Lead Technical Architect based in Croydon.
- Magdalene Amegashitsi, a data scientist from London.
- Molly Watt, an accessibility and UX/usability consultant based in Berkshire.
- Jennifer Johnson a developer working in London.
- Kam Rai, a product manager based in London.
- Patience Ndlovu, a software tester from Leeds.
- Clare Streets, a project director based in Birmingham.
The women, from across the UK were nominated by Tech Talent Charter signatory organisations for their inspiring personal journeys into a tech career. Their stories are all featured on www.techtalentcharter.co.uk.
The campaign is being run across outdoor sites from Global. It is being supported by the Institute of Coding, HP, and PwC who created the campaign artwork, and will run across outdoor, social and digital media from 21st October for one month. FreeAgent provided website development and social media support, and LT Harper provided social media support. Tech Talent Charter signatories are being encouraged to share the campaign with their networks via social media to amplify the message among working age women.