New drive to woo women to tech with inspiring stories

Working-age women are being urged to consider a career in tech through a new major marketing campaign featuring females from a variety of backgrounds who have flourished after joining the industry through untraditional paths.

The initiative is the first creative campaign from Tech Talent Charter, a non-profit organisation leading a movement to address inequality in the UK tech sector and drive inclusion and diversity in a practical and measurable way.

‘Doing It Anyway’ has been produced in partnership with Rankin creative agency, Global, PwC, HP and the Institute of Coding and directs women to tech vacancies and retraining programmes.

However, unlike the Government’s recent controversial ad which suggested a ballet dancer could “reboot” her career by retraining in cyber security, the women featured in this activity 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 individual stories of personal journeys into tech roles, highlight the need for more women in the sector. The link directs people to a directory of more than 300 vacancies, courses and retraining programmes run by Tech Talent Charter signatories and the wider tech industry.

Tech Talent Charter co-founder and author Sinead Bunting said: “Women’s careers have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus outbreak. 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.”

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.

Their stories are all featured on the Tech Talent Charter website>

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 this week 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.

Bunting concluded: “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.”