About one in four science and tech professional in Singapore are female – a ratio that has stagnated for over a decade, said Josephine Teo, second minister for home affairs and manpower.
While the number of female IT professionals has grown about 10% since 2011, it is still less than half the growth seen in the number of male hires, reported Channel NewsAsia.
Teo had spoken yesterday about the need to upgrade efforts in including women in Singapore’s growth sectors, such as science and tech, at the inaugural ‘Women in Technology and Design’ conference at Singapore University of Technology and Design.
The conference also saw the launch of the Women in Technology@SG interest group. It is presently made up of 11 women from CITI, IBM, DELL EMC and SUTD, and was created to provide a platform to help increase and advance the participation of leadership of women in technology.
Recently, it was found that female enrolment in science and tech-related courses in local universities has plateaued at around 3,300 students. This means the gender ratio has dipped below 40%.
In response to the figures, Teo raised two areas of concern.
Firstly, that young women are “less likely to benefit from the uplift that technology brings to industries and of course to careers”.
Secondly, it will “be a loss to society if not enough of our women have the relevant training to come on board”.
“One day perhaps, we won’t need a special conference for women in technology and design for that matter, any special committee or taskforce to help women advance in any field. The time isn’t here yet,” she said.
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