Let's Reboot
Representation

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…

 

  • Insight from

    100

    of the sector's top
    executives and experts

  • Insight from

    32

    Leading Tech Companies

  • Representing nearly

    $500 Billion

    in Annual Revenue

  • Representing over

    $400 Million

    in Annual
    Philanthropic Giving

  • Many companies don’t apply a gender lens to their CSR and philanthropy — in 2017, only 5% ($26 million) of companies’ philanthropic giving went to programs with an explicit focus on women and girls in tech.

  • Underrepresented women and girls of color fall through the cracks, with less than 0.1 percent of 2017 philanthropic giving focused on reaching them specifically.

  • Decision-making and ownership regarding gender diversity initiatives are fragmented within tech companies, though companies that successfully link their philanthropy and CSR efforts together with their D&I initiatives are more likely to see success on both fronts.

     

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.

 

View in the Report

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
  • Focus on representation of women and girls

    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.

     

  • Solve for those facing the most barriers

    Companies can support strategies that attend to the specific challenges faced by women who experience multiple forms of marginalization based on their identities and backgrounds. Focusing on the experiences of those who face the greatest number of barriers will spur solutions that ultimately improve the inclusivity of the tech sector for all underrepresented groups.

     

  • It's never too late; consider multiple on-ramps

    Girls and women can begin their journey into tech at many different points in their lives. Because girls are less likely than boys to have previous exposure to computing as children, later on-ramps—such as those during higher education—are a high-impact opportunity to make up lost ground by involving women and girls with minimal previous exposure to computing.

     

  • Deliver eight critical building blocks for success

    The evidence base points to eight components that programs need to incorporate to empower women and girls to succeed in tech. Tech companies should work with their partners to ensure these success factors are in place to maximize the impact of their investments.

     

High-impact action opportunities for companies to move the needle on gender diversity

Choosing a strategic focus that reflects the company’s unique DNA helps companies allocate resources most effectively to deliver on their ultimate objectives. This research identified five high-impact opportunities for company action based on the evidence of what works and what’s needed most to foster gender diversity in tech.

 

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.

 

View in the Report

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?

  • Allows companies to do things none of them could do individually by pooling resources and rapidly scaling what works

     

  • Brings each company’s unique capabilities to the table and connects them to solve the larger puzzle

     

  • Amplifies the power of companies’ voices by banding them together as a sector

     

  • 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.

 

Support Reboot Grantees

 

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Last Mile Education Fund
Spelman College
University of Houston
American Indian College Fund