By Ian Holmes

Shortage of Role Models may be Factor in Lack of Female Tech Sector Leaders

Jul 20, 2016 | 3:17 PM

The executive director of Innovation Island is concerned that so few women in B.C.’s emerging tech sector are in senior leadership roles.

According to the BC Innovation Council, women hold fewer than 10 percent of senior leadership roles in the tech sector, despite the fact women make up 54 percent of post-secondary graduates in the province’s science and tech industries.

Paris Gaudet says the number of women heading tech firms outside Vancouver and Victoria is even smaller.

“My region working in the tech space, there’s only been three or four women in leadership roles in the tech sector, whether that’s being the CEO of a tech company or being a founder and partner in a tech company, so I’m not suprprised by that number and it is a discouraging thought, so we have much more work to do,” said Gaudet.

Gaudet believes a number of factors are at play working against women, including a lack of female role models.

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“There’s lots of male role models, I mean some of my most trusted advisors and role models are male. Would I love to have a woman in the tech sector as a role model? Absolutely, but we don’t find that those woman are taking those leadership roles.”

Gaudet says she’s not exactly sure what the answer is to encourage more women in leadership roles in B.C.’s growing technology industry.

She says increased diversity in general would lead to better products and better teams.