UK Women in Software Power List winners announced to inspire change in the industry

By Gaia Lamperti

September 02, 2021

Gender inequality is a long-standing issue in the tech industry, particularly in FinTech, where 30% of the workforce is female but only 17% of executive roles are covered by women. Shockingly, fundraising disparities are very tangible too, with female-founded FinTechs having raised a meager 1% of total investment in the sector in the last 10 years.

Such figure exemplifies quite well the struggle female leaders in the tech industry face constantly. In a 2021 study conducted by TrustRadius, it was found that women in tech were nearly twice as likely as men to lose their jobs or be furloughed due to the pandemic. Furthermore, 57% of women in tech feel burned out at work this year (compared to 36% of men), and 78% of women in tech feel they have to work harder than their male coworkers to prove their worth.

The Women in Software initiative

But many new initiatives are now focusing on championing women in tech and making a buzz around their achievements. Makers, UK’s leading software boot camp, created the Women in Software initiative back in 2019 with the aim to offer a platform for women in tech to unify and share their experiences. As the conversation evolved, so did Women in Software and today, the initiative provides an opportunity to amplify the women and organisations that are driving real, tangible change on the UK tech scene.

This week, Makers announced its Women in Software Power List 2021 winners, a competition held in partnership with ComputerWeekly and Google for Startups. The Power List, which highlights 20 rising stars across tech and their trailblasing contributions to the industry, was born precisely to showcases the talented women across software who are playing an active role in transforming the tech industry for the better.

“The impact the pandemic has had on working women highlights the need for these awards,” Haylee Potts, Events Lead & Head of Diversity Initiatives at Makers Academy, said. “It’s not a pat on the back, we need to highlight individuals who inspire others, and crucially, we need to showcase the organisations taking the careers of the women in their teams seriously and doing everything they can to help them succeed so that others in the industry can follow suit.”

All women on the list are employed across a diverse range of sectors, and work in some of the world’s most influential firms, ranging from blue-chip companies to billion-dollar startup unicorns. Recognising the need to reframe the solution after the events of last year, Makers is determined to make his campaign more impactful than ever before incentivising women to join the industry on a global scale.