McKinsey: How does gender diversity affect the European economy?
Elina Mäkelä: If we look at the tech sector specifically, there are many reasons to care about diversity. The lack of a diverse talent pool in one of Europe’s fastest-growing and important industries, tech, is a societal and ethical issue. Increasing the diversity of the tech workforce will allow all kinds of programmers, program managers, and so on to create tech services and products that impact the lives of millions of people, and partake in one of Europe’s most lucrative industries.
There’s also value at stake. By doubling its share of women, Europe’s tech sector can increase its GDP by 260 to 600 billion euros by 2027. So it’s really a win-win for tech companies, who can eliminate the talent gap by adding 1.6 to 3.9 million additional women workers. There’s also a lot of research indicating that gender-diverse companies and teams outperform their peers by up to 25 percent.