Breaking the Bias in Tech: The Importance of Gender-Equal Teams for Successful Digital Products

When developed and used correctly, technology has proven to be a great equalizer. However, the tech industry is still overwhelmingly male-dominated and a deep “gender digital divide” has unfolded, from recruitment to product development, all the way down to the end-user.

As an industry, we are impeding women to drive their own digital presents and futures, we are missing out on their invaluable inputs, and embedding harmful biases into our tools. Yet, the sector is missing a trick: companies with more gender diversity are 21% more likely to achieve above-average profitability. 

So, why is it that gender inclusive-teams translate to company success, and how can we achieve this workplace diversity?

Here’s my take.

Diversity Drives Innovative Products

Diversity, the richness of people and their perspectives, is a key driver for innovative collaboration, allowing companies to tap into a wider pool of knowledge sources. Though, this has been a contested point: some researchers have deduced that a diverse workforce disrupts social cohesion.

My take is that friction is inevitable in any group with diverse identities, backgrounds, and voices. However, potential social disruption can be transformed into positive creative tension when managed and channeled in the right way. This also builds team resilience and empathy which is then reflected in the digital products they develop.

What’s more, customer bases are becoming more diverse, and so our companies should be too. Teams made up of varied identities are more highly attuned to the differing needs and cultural contexts of their customers, and the digital products they create perform better as they’re built with these distinct contexts and customs in mind. Without this user connection and empathy, products aimed at global growth will struggle to succeed.

Gender-Equal Leadership Empowers Team Performance

According to research by Harvard Business Review, diverse leaders are more likely to create an environment where new ideas are considered. Similarly, another study on diversity and entrepreneurship concluded that “businesses run by culturally diverse leadership teams were more likely to develop new products than those with homogenous leadership.”

In 2019, the global rate of women in senior management roles was at 29%, the highest ever recorded, yet it’s at only 16% in the tech industry. And, the higher up the ladder you look, the more this percentage drops. While intive’s management team is made up of 30% women, higher than the global industry average, I acknowledge that we still have work to do.

However, for a team to be truly gender-inclusive, it’s not enough that women have a seat at the table. They must feel emboldened to put their unique ideas onto said table. This is why we need more female leaders and role models in the digital space, to empower women to come forward, whether it be to shoot apply for a more senior role or make themselves heard in a team meeting. It’s no secret that we do our best work when we are empowered individually and collectively. This is why we are Gold Sponsors of Poland’s Dare IT program, where some of intive’s best female tech minds mentor women starting out their careers in the industry.

When I began my career, management teams were all white and there were very few PoC-mentors in the field. Today, many of the CEOs of the top tech organizations come from different ethnic backgrounds and we can see their teams profiting. Now, I call for a global push from tech leaders to ensure we experience the same with gender diversity.

Gender-Inclusion Built into Company Culture

I firmly believe that diversity doesn’t happen by itself; we need to push for it. While I’ve always been a supporter of quotas and affirmative action, they aren’t enough on their own. This stance is echoed by Harvard Business Review, whose 2019 study found that gender diversity only creates success when there is an understanding of its intrinsic value within the workplace culture. So, to achieve this, gender equality must be embedded into the company's purpose.

This is a challenging task for our intive tribe that spans across 37 nationalities, each with its own cultural context. One way we ensure this is through our HR and CSR-developed diversity program, with regular involvement in global activities which champion women in tech.

For example, intive will be joint-running a Full Stack Program with Argentinian non-profit Media Chicas, that helps girls aged 13-17 learn both front and back-end development. We are also Platinum Sponsors of FemIT, Argentina’s biggest transfeminism tech conference. In Europe, we are taking an active part in EU Diversity Month, an initiative that raises awareness of the importance of inclusivity in the workplace and wider society.

And when it comes to leading diverse teams, department heads and senior-level employees have a huge role to play. Their leadership style must be founded on the values of empathy and mutual respect, with an inherent appreciation for the richness that diversity brings in terms of ideas, innovation, and inclusion.

Gender equal teams challenge conventional ways of thinking, drive innovation, and are best placed to serve the diverse interests of their global customer bases. However, companies will only see the benefits of this inclusion if it is well-managed by an empathetic and similarly diverse leadership that makes embedding gender equality into the company culture a priority.

Having our purpose grounded in diversity helps us to redefine success. In my mind, a successful digital product is one that is truly people-centric, designed around the diversity of cross-cultural and cross-gender needs and values that make up our increasingly interconnected global world.