WOMEN IN TECH THE FACTS

FEMALE RETENTION: What are the rates of attrition for technical women?
According to a study by the Center for Talent Innovation:
• Eighty percent of women in SET report “loving their work” (Hewlett, Sherbin, with Dieudonné,
Fargnoli, & Fredman, 2014).
• Yet 56 percent leave their organizations at the mid-level points (10-20 years) in their careers
(Hewlett et al., 2008).
As Figure 1.5 illustrates, female attrition is higher in technology than in science and in engineering. In all
cases, the quit rate for women is higher than it is for men. In the high tech industry, the quit rate is more
than twice as high for women (41 percent) than it is for men (17 percent) (Hewlett et al., 2008).
Science Occupations
Engineering Occupations
FIG. 1.5 // Female Quit Rate Across SET
47%
In the high tech industry,
the quit rate is more than
twice as high for women,
as it is for men:
41%
17%
FOR
WOMEN
FOR
MEN
39%
Technology Occupations
56%
0 20 40 60 80 100
Women Who Quit
Women Who Stayed
Rerendered from Hewlett et al., 2008
Female attrition rates are also higher in technology than they are in other non-STEM fields. One
large-scale study found that after about 12 years, approximately 50 percent of women had left their
jobs in STEM fields—mostly in computing or engineering (Glass, Sassler, Levitte & Michelmore, 2013).
As Figure 1.6 indicates, only about 20 percent of women working in other non-STEM professional
occupations left their fields during the 30-year span covered by the study. Women in STEM also were
more likely to leave in the first few years of their career than women in non-STEM professions.
WOMEN IN TECH: THE FACTS 9