Where Are the Women in Tech? This Entrepreneur Has the Answer It takes a little more effort for women to establish their credibility as tech entrepreneurs despite having the same skills as men

The tech industry continues to be a male-dominated one with a small number of women opting to build a career in the field. Even the number of women entrepreneurs in the sector is too less to set a trend, let alone break the stereotype of male preponderance in the business.

There can be just one solution to this problem — more and more women should be encouraged to join the sector as professionals or as entrepreneurs, by ensuring fair pays and equal opportunities.

Entrepreneur India spoke to Shalu Yadav, CTO & Co-Founder, Sniffer to deduce the possible answers to why there are not many women in the sector.

Sniffer is a mobile application which gives you information about the events and shows being organized in your locality where you can hang out with your family and friends. The app also uploads photographs of what people around you are doing to unwind.

Lack Of Role Models And Mentors

"It starts with a lack of role models and mentors for women in technology, whom they can look up to once they enroll in an engineering course. They, no doubt, get jobs but do not pursue their careers in technology passionately. Also for women, the standard for doing well in life, as is set by the society, is graduation, marriage and then starting a family," explained Shalu.

A woman in the tech industry, especially one who is trying to start up on her own, has to be extremely strategic in terms of time-management. This is, however, true for every field.

According to Shalu, it takes a little more effort for women to establish their credibility as tech entrepreneurs, even if their skills match men's, who more or less make up more or less 90 of "techpreneurs'. Their overwhelming numbers give women the feeling that the latter do not belong here.

Learn to Tackle a Problem Head-on

A predominant notion is that you have to master everything to be at the top in the industry, which seems quite overwhelming, she reasoned. The focus should be on choosing the right concept, which one can apply to one's business or add to one's skill set, she said.

"When you face challenges, instead of thinking what others will think, focus on solving them. As you keep solving problems, you start innovating. Steve Jobs once said, "Everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.'" The same goes for women too, she added.

Shalu urged women entrepreneurs to feel free to ask for help from others whenever they are in need of it.

"We are afraid to ask for help or advice from people. If you don't ask you get nothing. But if you ask someone and in case he/she fails to help, you have nothing to lose. But, if he/she succeeds in helping you out, you might gain a lot. You can find inspiration or faith anywhere, not necessarily women leaders or role models. My role models are female as well male," she stressed.

Make Schoolgirls Aware of Upcoming Opportunities

Shalu opined that girls should be made aware of the upcoming opportunities in the tech industry right from their school days. "Also, we should help them develop an interest in technology by inviting guest speakers to schools from various fields. The students may find their role models in the scholarly people whom they will hear in their schools," she said. Lastly, women should be educated not to question gender when faced with a problem, she stressed before signing off.