The technology industry needs more women. We've known that for some time, given how male-dominated it has been till now; but our challenge is in fact two-fold. Getting them in is just the beginning – once they are part of the industry, we also need them to stay.

That was the message to the recent #PledgeForParity in the Technology Sector event in Edinburgh, organised by DLA Piper in collaboration with Deloitte. Among the guests on the night were some of Scotland's top women in tech, including entrepreneur Ann Budge; Carolyn Jameson, chief legal officer of Skyscanner; Rebecca Heaney, a consultant at software developer Craneware and Elizabeth Gutteridge, partner at Deloitte, with proceedings chaired by Ishbel MacPherson, senior associate at DLA Piper.

The discussion at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre has seldom been more relevant. Research from digital skills body, the Tech Partnership, found that only 18% of technical roles in Scotland are held by women. The global picture isn't much better. Our most recent analysis also showed that by the end of the year fewer than 25% of IT roles in developed countries will be held by women.

That's simply not good enough - both for the women who can't, for a multitude of reasons, get involved in the sector and the businesses themselves. By accessing only half the talent pool, companies run the risk of not being able to develop to their full potential and miss out on diversity of thought.  That can't be conducive to future success.

But we can tackle this situation in a number of ways. Firstly, we believe that better education of young women about the opportunities available is critical. For many, it may still be considered a "geeky" or "nerdy" choice, which couldn't be further from the case. We need to dispel that myth by championing positive role models and encouraging young women to take up STEM subjects, which tend to lead to jobs in the tech industry.

To do this, we (in the collective sense) need to work with governments to change how technology is taught in schools; at the same time educating parents and carers, who can have a big impact on the career choices of children. Likewise, we need to align education institutions and businesses more closely to ensure that the courses of the future focus on the skills and expertise required by industry.

Another step in the right direction is creating partnerships. Organisations should look to match themselves up with other businesses, public sector bodies or campaigners whose ambitions and objectives match their own. As an example, Deloitte works with the Ada Digital College, CoderDojo, Everywoman and CodeClan to help influence and grow the next generation of technologists.

All of these initiatives can help get women into the industry; but that's only solving one aspect of the challenge – we also need to keep them in technology. Women have a much higher propensity to leave the tech sector after just one year, so it's no good encouraging swathes of them in for many to leave after only 12 months because it's not working.

As part of our plan, we also need to continue to focus on retention initiatives and ensure the tech scene is viewed as a culture in which women can thrive, contribute and develop their careers. Programmes such as "returnships", which act as a bridge for experienced professionals to return to work, is one way of increasing flexibility and bringing women back to organisations. Holding up high-profile examples of women in leadership positions is another.

The third key plank is involving men. Often, the penny only drops when they have female relations who are seeking to enter the workforce or are already working in industries traditionally dominated by men. We need them to get involved in greater numbers and, once they understand the issue, more have potential to do so.

Ultimately, we want to make a career in technology as attractive and welcoming to everyone as it should be. It's not fair to women, or the businesses which miss out on all that they can bring, to cut the industry off as an option. The industry's future success could well depend on it.

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