Apple CEO Tim Cook called out the lack of women in the tech industry, including in his own company.
Key Details
- In an interview with the BBC, Cook addressed the disparity between the number of men and women in the tech industry, saying there’s “not enough women at the table.”
- Without a more diverse workforce, Cook says that companies, including his own, can’t reach their full potential.
- Apple recently launched a new program aimed at developing female founders and developers in the U.K.
Why it’s news
The tech industry has long had a dearth of female employees. A Deloitte survey found that only around 30% of workers in the industry were female. That number is growing, though slowly.
According to its diversity figures, In 2021 Apple had 35% female staff. The lack of women on development teams has occasionally drawn criticism.
For example, in 2014 the Apple Health Kit was released without a period tracking feature, which led some to point out that having more women in the development phase of the project could prevent future oversights.
Apple has taken steps to address the disparity by launching its founders development program in the U.K.
One factor causing the imbalance of men and women in tech is the lack of young women choosing to pursue STEM subjects. Apple wants to change that.
“Businesses can’t cop out and say ‘there’s not enough women taking computer science—therefore I can’t hire enough.’ We have to fundamentally change the number of people that are taking computer science and programming,” Cook says.
Cook has further suggested that all students be required to take some coding classes in order to have a basic knowledge of coding and an understanding of app development.
Apple has also created its own curriculum for learning to use Swift, a program language that it developed.