Fabiola Cineas, a Business Editor for Philly Mag, reports on the data from SmartAsset’s 2017 ranking, stating that Philly is the country’s 10th best city for women in tech. She further explains the findings of the new study showing how the gender pay gap in the industry has narrowed in Philadelphia! The full article was originally published in BizPhilly, a blog on the Philadelphia Magazine website.
Last year, Philly ranked 15th in the same SmartAsset study. “In terms of cities with the highest percentage of women in math and computer-related jobs, Philly ranks eighth,” the authors of the report noted this year. “What’s more, its gender pay gap has narrowed. The female-to-male-earnings ratio is 92%, up from 89.5% in last year’s study. Nationwide, women in computer and math-related roles earn about 15% less than men.”
In 2016, the authors cited that Philly is leading the way for greater diversity in tech with programs like TechGirlz, which is designed to narrow the tech industry’s gender gap. But even so, women are still gravely in the minority when it comes to the local and national tech industry. Women held 57 percent of all professional occupations in 2015, but made up 25 percent of computing jobs, according to a 2016 report from the National Center for Women & Technology. Silicon Valley Bank’s 2017 Startup Outlook report found that 70 percent of startups don’t have women on their boards and 54 percent have no women in executive positions. The Atlantic’s April 2017 cover story explores why women leave tech at more than twice the rate men do. Though tech companies have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into improving conditions for women, many women continue to face sexist incidents that, “no matter how quick or glancing, chipped away at their sense of belonging and expertise,” the author wrote.
