The challenges facing women in technical professions continue to make headlines. Women account for just 12 percent of engineers, while their ranks within computing have fallen from 35 percent in 1990 to 26 percent today, according to a 2015 report by the American Association of University Women.
Myriad factors account for the poor showing of women in many technical positions. Bias appears to be one. A study included in the AAUW report showed employers routinely rated a hypothetical male job candidate more competent than a female, even though the two had identical resumes.
Even once women are hired for technical jobs, they tend to enter the field at lower positions and pay levels than men with similar backgrounds, reports Catalyst, Inc., a nonprofit ...