Female professionals? Dedicated, committed to their work, even in terms of working hours, but most of them struggle for salary and career recognition: this is the identity of female technology professionals that emerges from the study "Donne e Tecnologia: un’indagine quali-quantitativa", carried out in synergic collaboration between the University of Milan-Bicocca, through the Comitato Unico di Garanzia (CUG), and Women&Tech® ETS - Associazione Donne e Tecnologie. More than 71% of the female respondents claim to have received or experienced different pay treatment compared to their male colleagues, while 11.4% preferred not to answer.
The results of the survey were presented today during the event 'Donne e STE(A)M. Tra passato e futuro', at which Alessia Cappello (Councillor for Economic Development and Employment Policy, Milan City Council), Maria Grazia Riva (Pro-Rector for Guidance, Gender Policy and Equal Opportunities), Patrizia Steca (President of the CUG of Milano-Bicocca) and Silvia Penati (Professor of Physics and member of the Equal Opportunities Committee) spoke.
Among the morning guests were Amalia Ercoli Finzi (Professor emeritus of the Politecnico di Milano), Elvina Finzi (Essilor Luxottica manager) and Gianna Martinengo (President of the Women&Tech® ETS Association).
"The University of Milano-Bicocca has always shown great interest in the subject of women's careers, both academic and professional. - said Patrizia Steca, President of the Comitato Unico di Garanzia of Milano-Bicocca - The University is constantly monitoring the career choices of students. These still show a significant gender imbalance: boys are much more present in scientific and technological courses, while girls choose more humanistic and pedagogical paths. A similar situation can be observed in the composition of our faculties. Although improvements can be seen, it is clear that there is still work to be done to encourage choices that go beyond traditional gender stereotypes. The possibility of collaborating with external realities, such as Women&Tech® ETS, is an opportunity to learn more about company contexts and the challenges they pose, especially for young women. This also provides us with valuable information to improve our training, orientation and job placement paths".
The survey presented had a specific focus on 'women and technology', with the aim of gathering information and data on the experiences of female workers within the network of member companies and individuals. In particular, five dimensions were analysed: gender and the ICT sector; job satisfaction; harmonisation of life spheres; perceived gender gaps and possible measures to address them.
The research - conducted through an online questionnaire on the Qualtrics platform in November-December 2023 - involved almost 200 female professionals from Women&Tech® ETS member companies working in "labour-intensive" professional realities - mostly (70 per cent) employed in the tech, software and internet sector - aged between 30 and 45 (46.9 per cent) and graduates (62 per cent).
In particular, 30 per cent of them have a degree in STEM disciplines and 24.6 per cent have one or more Master's degrees.
In terms of average daily workload, 39.7 per cent of respondents report a commitment of 9h50', to which overtime and travel are added. More than half of them (53%) are mothers and 20% are single parents.
In terms of job satisfaction, 41.8% of the women in the sample say they are fairly satisfied with their jobs. In 12 per cent of cases they are very satisfied and in 28.9 per cent they are satisfied.
The results of the research - interpreted from a gender perspective - show how the link between employment data collected at national level and the distribution of paid and unpaid workloads helps to define the contours and shapes of these women's experiences.
In fact, the sample shows that full-time and single mothers have greater difficulties in reconciling and harmonising different spheres of life and report greater difficulties in enjoying leisure time. Significantly, the proportion of 'part-time' workers in the sample (10 per cent) is 90.5 per cent female mothers, and there are no women in managerial positions in this group.
In addition to the widespread perception of pay inequality already mentioned, 51.4 per cent of the women workers in the sample said that in their professional experience they 'often' or 'always' felt that they had more difficulty than their male colleagues in gaining credibility and recognition.
Although 37 per cent of women report career progression in the last five years, 19.5 per cent of the sample say that their gender has 'often' played a negative role in their career progression.
Among the possible measures to address these gaps, 71.6% of the women who are members of Women&Tech® ETS believe that measures to support reconciliation and parenthood are necessary, and 40.2% suggest promoting cooperation and synergies between companies and training organisations, schools and universities.
"Women&Tech® ETS was created in 2009 as an evolution of my Women&Technologies project, conceived in 1999, based on an intuition: technologies are a great help for women to reconcile family and work, but women are indispensable in the processes of conception, design and production of technologies. Women and technology: a winning combination. Today, this intuition has become reality. Women, with their holistic view of technologies, make a fundamental contribution to technological and social innovation. Gianna Martinengo, President of the Women&Tech® ETS Association, added: "However, as the results of this research show us, we are still far from equality: in terms of opportunities, pay and the very presence of women in technological and scientific careers. Today more than ever, given the speed with which generative AI is developing and taking hold, we are called upon to intervene on several fronts, and this concerns all of us: the world of education, companies, institutions and associations.