Verizon: Women 45 Percent More Likely to Drop Out of Tech Industry

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Verizon vice president Janet Schijns presented startling statistics at the recent Women of the Channel event: despite the increased growth of the technology industry, women have been shown to drop out at a rate of 45 percent more than their male counterparts within a year.

’Close to 90 percent of them said they loved technology but they didn’t feel like they belonged,’ Shijns said.

That’s a problem because more than ever, companies in traditionally non-tech industries are turning digital.

’Those women, those 700 women that dropped out of technology and went into fashion or makeup or retail or healthcare, or anywhere in between, will end up back in technology, but they will make close to 40 percent less than [those in tech],’ Schijns said.

Schijns said the digital transformation sweeping markets has ’become about one thing and one thing only: delivering a better customer experience.’ She quoted a figure that 61 percent of shopping nationwide is done by women, and therefore women ’have a definitive advantage to start’ and are ’much better at understanding the customer experience that people want than anyone else in the industry.’

Beyond that, she said, women in technology will have more flexibility in their careers and better career opportunities than in other industries.