Women in tech – its a topic that many companies know about but few are doing anything about. 2019 did see a push towards closing the gender imbalance in tech. We witnessed great success for female founders, landing a record-breaking 4,399 investments, earning a share of the $6 billion invested in female-founded companies and growing from 15 unicorns in 2018 to 21 by the end of 2019.

While we are right to celebrate the industry-wide progress made in 2019, the figures are still shockingly low for women in tech. The UK startup ecosystem is the 3rd largest globally, yet its gender equality leaves a lot to be desired. Shockingly the country ranks only 15th in terms of the ‘global gender gap’, with male founded businesses outnumbering female-led startups by nearly ten to one. However, there is no data to suggest that this gender bias offers any monetary return. Although 98% of capital is invested in male-led startups, female-founded companies statistically perform better, producing 10% more revenue over a five year period.

This gender inequality is emphasized even more in the tech world. Women comprise under 20% of the UK tech workforce and hold only 24% of the senior leadership positions. But there is a desire for change. We have seen an increase in opportunities for VC funding for female-led startups thanks to a government-led initiative requiring funding institutions to record and make public their funding by gender split. This review should target some of the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in a male-dominated industry and encourage gender transparency and accessibility. It’s not just from the top that we are seeing a desire for change, more than 80% of British female millennials identify the need to pursue employers with a strong record on diversity and equality.

But change doesn’t happen overnight, and it is clear that the tech industry still has a long way to go. Here at Photofoxx, we think representation is important. We are a female-founded and led tech start-up, and are committed to challenging the gender bias in the industry. Facial Recognition is at the heart of what we do – learn more what our first venture is about by checking out our events page.