‘A Man’s World’ — Women in the EdTech Sector
Whilst the world is continually evolving and moving towards fairer working conditions, it is no secret that men have an inherent advantage in the workplace. In the UK, only 7 women are CEO’s or chairmen in FTSE 100 companies, compared to 93 men. So, what does this statistic look like in the world of education technology? In 2021, HolonIQ released data proving that only 13% of EdTech CEO’s and overall leaders are female. It is also true that startups in the industry with female founders receive substantially less VC funding. So, how can we change these daunting statistics?
In this blog, we will discuss the Supercharger “EdTech Female Founders” (EFF) initiative, and what we at Supercharger Ventures do to support female-led companies across the globe.
In an interview with one of our startup founders, Yvonne Soh, co-founder of ‘Noodle Factory’, Yvonne stated that, “More than 75% of teachers are women, and yet most tech founders are men. What the EdTech industry can do is to ensure that more women are involved in the design and development of EdTech solutions.”
Considering that most educators are actually women, it is shocking to see that almost all EdTech companies are led by men.
Anna Brailsford, CEO of Code First Girls, an enterprise which aims to help women improve their IT skills, states that, “Deliberate steps must be taken by everyone one in the tech sector — from business leaders, partners, mentors, and by female workers themselves — to create an inclusive work environment where women have a voice to lead and make a difference.”
Whilst we are aware that change doesn’t happen overnight, as Brailsford points out, steps need to be taken by companies and leaders in the sector to impact and correct this alarming inequality. For this reason, we at Supercharger Ventures decided to launch our ‘EdTech Female Founders’ campaign.
The EFF campaign is led by our head of marketing, Gabriela Zedán. It was launched in March 2021, as a way to commemorate international women’s day. The initiative was built to feature, promote and support EdTech female founders from across the globe, as well as to raise awareness and promote female entrepreneurship in the EdTech sector.
We’ve built a network of 135+ female founders from over 34 countries across the globe.
The Supercharger EFF campaign took off on social media, leading to a partnership with the European EdTech Alliance with whom we launched the ‘Female EdTech Fellowship Europe”, a programme supporting the growth of female founders across all of Europe. We are proud to be working with such a strong team of women, as we believe that, the way to change the disadvantage that women are faced with in the industry, is by women supporting women, as we’re stronger together.
We recently added 16 new profiles to our #EFF site!: https://www.edtechfemalefounders.org
