Maintaining a focus on women’s equal representation, with stated goals at the program level, is the only way to avoid replicating the same gender ratios we see in tech today.
The Rebooting Representation report is an original research effort drawing on insights from 32 leading tech companies representing nearly $500 billion in annual revenue and over $500 million in annual philanthropic giving, as well as 100 of the sector’s top executives and experts. Authored by McKinsey & Company and Pivotal Ventures, the report focuses specifically on understanding how companies approach gender diversity using corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility giving. These are significant resources tech companies could spend alongside their internal efforts to close the gender gap.
The Rebooting Representation report research efforts gathered…
Tech companies’ CSR and philanthropic investments are a powerful but underutilized tool
Tech companies currently use their HR and diversity and inclusion initiatives to increase their gender diversity, and expanding their focus to increase the number of women and girls pursuing computing education in the first place could make a dramatic difference.
Companies can use CSR and philanthropic initiatives to actively involve more women in tech today, expanding the talent pool they will recruit from tomorrow. We surveyed 32 leading tech companies representing nearly $500 billion in revenue to understand how companies have used their CSR and philanthropy to create pathways for women into tech.
What works for women and girls in tech
Knowing what works in increasing the number of women studying computing and entering the industry will help companies invest in ways that deliver results for women and girls. This report distills evidence from across the field to identify the approaches showing the most promising results:
View in the Report
Here are 5
high-impact opportunities for company action
Fight stereotypes around women
in computing
Create more inclusive experiences of computing for girls in middle and high school
Redesign the experience of college students majoring in computing
Build knowledge of which programs are working
Create connections among programs so women and girls move directly from one tech experience to the next
How individual companies can deliver on their philanthropy and CSR strategies
Today, many companies are hampered by the difficulties of coordinating across a disconnected set of initiatives and stakeholders working on various aspects of this issue from within HR, D&I, CSR, corporate philanthropy, and business units.
It doesn’t have to be this way:
Unite all the company’s activities and initiatives under an overarching strategy for gender diversity in tech.
Designate a senior executive sponsor to coordinate the company’s comprehensive gender-diversity strategy across internal and external functions.
Measure the impact of CSR and philanthropic efforts with the same rigor applied to the company’s business.
Changing the future through collective action
If tech as a sector can translate the energy around gender diversity into collective, sector-wide action, it will move beyond incremental improvement to significantly transform the face of the industry.
Why partnership is the most powerful tool
to get concrete results in a short time?
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Allows companies to do things none of them could do individually by pooling resources and rapidly scaling what works
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Brings each company’s unique capabilities to the table and connects them to solve the larger puzzle
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Amplifies the power of companies’ voices by banding them together as a sector
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Capitalize on the momentum building in the sector around collaborating to design the diverse tech sector of the future
There is already momentum building in the sector around collaborating to design the diverse tech sector of the future.
