Malta’s tech industry falls behind with only 800 female employees

Malta’s tech industry has the least number of women working in the tech industry, with only 800 female employees, according to a study by European company Honeypot.

The study focusing on the tech industry in 41 countries revealed that from around 7,000 tech employees in Malta, only 800 were female.

Honeypot, a tech-focused job platform for software developers, focused on 41 countries in the OECD and EU which offered comparable data relating to both the tech industry and the wage gap. The study centred around gender in the overall economy and the number of women in tech. The study also focused on the opportunities for women in tech and female career progression.

The study found that Malta had the lowest amount of employees working in the tech industry, as well as the least number of women working within the industry.

The EU’s Gender Equality Index 2017 report published in January revealed that Malta still maintained its place as one of the three largest employment gaps in the EU-28 but has shown significant progress as a substantial percentage of women entered the labour market from 2005 to 2015.

While Malta’s general wage gap stood at 11%, the wage gap in the tech industry stood at 18.60%, with a man’s average wage being €37.494 and a female wage standing at €30.520.

The country with the highest percentage of employees working in the tech industry was the United States, with around six million workers. The US also had the most women working in the tech industry, with around 1.5 million female employees.

Across the board, the proportion of female tech workers remain under 30%, while the gender pay gap actually increased in 17 countries over five years.

However, it also revealed that some countries such as Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom made positive steps towards equality both in the tech industry and in general. “The results reveal the countries which have the most to offer women looking to progress in the tech industry, with Portugal, the United States and Latvia highlighted as the top three nations that have taken positive steps towards gender parity in the technology field in terms of fairer wages,” co-founder at Honeypot said.