How women in tech can break through the leadership glass ceiling

One of the biggest challenges that women currently face at work is learning how to break through the leadership glass ceiling. This is a global issue and prevalent across many sectors.

While we are seeing significant progress for working women across the globe, many industries, including the technology sector are still largely male-dominated industries, particularly from a leadership perspective.

As a female business executive and a working mother, striving for gender equality and ensuring women are offered the same opportunities as their male counterparts is really important to me. So how can women be rightfully recognized and rewarded a seat at the table?

Female empowerment in the workplace

Firstly, during the interview process, it is important for women to feel empowered to ask questions about a company’s gender split and the senior opportunities that are available to women so they can make an informed decision on whether or not a senior role will be attainable.

Equally, organizations should be transparent in sharing this information.

At Trip.com Group, gender diversity is a core part of our culture and runs through everything we do from the initial recruitment stage through to internal promotions.

There was a 50/50 ratio of men to women in new hires in 2021. As of today, we are proud to say that more than 50% of our employees are women and as of the end of 2021, 43% of the employees in mid-level management are women and nearly one-third of employees in senior management are female (VP-level and above).

We see the advantages of this every day.

Not only did women show incredible resilience during the pandemic, the uplifting sense of community spirit within our organization is hugely evident as we emerge from this challenging time, and much of this is influenced by our female employees.

We also reap the benefits of having a diverse workforce that enables different perspectives and ideas to be brought to the table.

Training opportunities

Women should be encouraged by companies to expand their skillset to help them reach senior leadership, and actively take advantage of training opportunities.

Our employment figures speak for themselves, and we intend to continue supporting women in the workforce, providing them with equal access to useful resources and training for leadership roles to ensure they have a rightful place in the tech industry.

Supporting female employees’ life choices

Many women will decide at some point in their careers to start a family. This doesn’t mean they should be overlooked for promotions when they return to work due to having to balance their role with caring for their children.

They are just as qualified and capable as they were before so equal opportunities should be available for them. Organizations should be finding ways to retain this talent by offering flexible working options and additional support, where required.

It is essential for these employees to feel valued - supporting all our staff, regardless of gender, through early parenthood is ingrained in our culture. We offer free taxis to take pregnant employees to and from work and when their baby is born we give them a welcome gift.

Female staff members are entitled to a maternity bonus of 800 RMB and an additional maternity allowance of up to 3,000 RMB during pregnancy. When the mother comes back to work, we offer flexible working hours.

This is in addition to our recently launched hybrid working model which is available to all global employees.

Improving gender equality

In recent decades we have seen incredible progress in relation to gender equality. Through the brave acts of individuals over the years, women around the world today are visible in society, business and politics.

However, there is still work to be done and collectively, we must strive to ensure better diversity and inclusion across all sectors, organizations and in everyday life.

For women to break through the leadership glass ceiling, they should empower themselves to pursue leadership roles by knowing their value, not being afraid to ask questions and proactively seeking out training opportunities.

Likewise, it is the duty of organizations to ensure women feel empowered at work by equipping them with the tools and opportunities to pursue and secure the senior leadership roles they so rightly deserve.