Women in Tech: We celebrate women, diversity, and inclusion on International Women's Day.
Written by Thea Krekke
We live in one of the world's best countries where everyone, both women and men, have equal rights and opportunities for higher education and to pursue their own interests and career ambitions. We can also boast of having the world's best arrangements when it comes to family planning, financial support, and childcare facilities to help women return to work after giving birth. Norway has made great strides in terms of diversity, inclusion, and gender equality.
So, do we still need International Women's Day?
Yes, absolutely! UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated that the lack of gender equality is the greatest human rights challenge in the world. Gender equality is about a fair distribution of power, influence, and resources. Although Norway is praised for its initiatives in the workplace and education, there is still room for improvement.
According to the UN, it will take 140 years to achieve gender parity in leadership positions in workplaces worldwide. It has also been shown that peace agreements negotiated by men tend to be less sustainable than those where women are involved. Yet, there is resistance to including women in these negotiations. In Norway, we are also not quite there in terms of gender balance, especially in private companies where the proportion of women in boards is low, according to the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Gender Balance in the Technology Industry
In recent years, there has been a positive trend regarding the proportion of women in the technology industry. According to a report from Abelia and ODA-Nettverk, the percentage of women in the IT industry increased from 24% in 2018 to nearly 29% in 2023. This is a step in the right direction, but the numbers also indicate that there is still much work to be done to achieve full gender balance, especially in leadership positions.
Since 2012, Compello has strategically focused on increasing the number of women on our team. We have increased the proportion of women from 26% to 40%. In 2018, we were honored with the ODA Award for our efforts to attract more women to the company. Regarding our leadership team, we are particularly proud to have reached 43% women after our latest round of hires. We also maintain a fair distribution of salaries between women and men because we believe that competence and effort should be rewarded regardless of gender. One of our sustainability goals for 2030 is to achieve a 50/50 gender balance through new recruitments.
We know it can be challenging to find enough women with the right skills, but we are not giving up!
Only Benefits
We believe that diversity leads to more creativity, innovation, better team dynamics, and improved collaboration in the workplace. Particularly important to us is the ability to retain the diversity of talents we have today while also attracting more individuals in various roles and levels within our organization.
Our employee surveys have consistently scored above 90 (out of 100) for some time now. The drivers in the survey indicate that we excel in diversity and inclusion, while also fostering a great working environment with high levels of trust. This is ingrained in our culture and forms the foundation of our success.
At Compello, we use International Women's Day to spotlight and celebrate our incredible women, who are vital contributors to our success. We take pride in having women serve as positive role models in various positions, helping to break down stereotypes in the tech industry and showcasing potential career paths for future generations.
We will continue our efforts to break down barriers and build bridges, so that together, we can create a technology sector that is rich in diversity, equal opportunities, and inclusion.
Happy International Women's Day to all women!
Less work on manual invoice processes
More time to promote female talents and contribute to a more diverse society.
