March 1, 2023

In celebration of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we’re heralding women in the tech industry, and sharing the stories of the amazing women at Belkin International who are instrumental to the business. You can read more about them below.

Around the world this International Women’s Day, we focus on 'embracing equity' – highlighting equitable action to achieve true inclusion and belonging. We recognize that considering the diverse lived experiences of individuals and communities is essential to creating equal opportunities, and that in order for women to advance, they need to belong in a culture that fosters their development at all stages in life. With education being a core pillar at Belkin, we aim to help spark change beginning at the young school age, and promote belonging for girls/young women pursuing careers in STEM. We recognize the importance of education to encourage, support and empower girl and women students to pursue careers that impact the world. Therefore, the innovative high school Portal Schools can be found on campus at our global headquarters, as well as hosting field trips for girl STEM students, and 1:1 mentorships with the org’s women leaders in hopes to provide role models and ultimately inspire careers in STEM.

A brief history of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month

International Women's Day, first recognized on March 8th, 1910, celebrates the wide achievements of women – socially, politically, economically, and culturally. Women’s History Month began as a local week-long celebration around International Women’s Day in Santa Rosa, California. In 1980, a consortium of women’s groups and historians successfully lobbied for national recognition. In February 1980, US President Jimmy Carter issued the first Presidential Proclamation declaring the Week of March 8, 1980, as National Women’s History Week, until 1987 when Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month.”

A Belkin study of girls/young women pursuing careers in STEM

The women workforce at Belkin International sits at 41%, however according to a stat by Deloitte, in 2022, the percentage of women in large tech companies sat at 25%. We want to increase these numbers.

We looked further into where interests in these subjects begin, at school age. When it comes to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), girls/young women and boys/young men do not significantly differ in their abilities in these areas. However, what does differ is their interest and sense of belonging in these areas (source), and that girls overall have fewer role models in these fields (source).

We wanted to hear from real people and learn more about their experience. Therefore, we surveyed an independent group of girls and young women students based across the United States who work/teach/study in STEM fields. Of this group, 94.4% shared they felt anything relating to STEM subject matter is dominated by men in popular culture and 77.8% believe it can deter girls from pursuing these subjects in school and in their leisure time.

An overwhelming 83.3% agreed that there is a lack of women role models in these areas. As a study participant stated, “though I don't plan to pursue a career in it, I have developed an interest in computer science recently. I was inspired by the boom of personal websites in the mid-1990s and how many people adapted to the technology as the years went on. Despite internal and external discouragement from the lack of women in the field, I wanted to come to the field with the same apprehensive but excited outlook many people came to sites like Geocities with. I have felt embarrassed about this interest due to this learned discouragement, but I have been able to persevere through these mental blocks due to the growing support for women in technology.”

When it comes to parental input, 72.2% believe that a parent’s personal opinions on these subjects affect their daughter’s perceptions. As a participant stated, “I often got opportunities to talk with male IT leaders. I asked if any of them were Girl Dads and talked about the importance of dads supporting and giving their daughters the vote of confidence when it comes to moving into a STEM career. Male allies are so very important for women/girls. They talk positively about the women's professional record even when they're not in the room.”

The group also shared their inspirations in what made them enter STEM subjects in their career or schooling. We heard from one student, who said, “Something I really want to pursue is engineering, specifically bio-medical, because I have always been intrigued by the idea of creating and building things that can help the people around me. As much as I love engineering, there aren't many black girls like me, entering the field. I often find myself worrying about being the only woman in the room.”

Belkin x Women in Tech® USA

We want to help make sure there are always more women in the room, therefore throughout Women’s History Month, Belkin will donate $1 from each sale worldwide of the Portable Wireless Charger Pad with MagSafe to Women in Tech® USA to further advance education and awareness of possibilities within the tech industry for girls + women in STEM and STEM related fields. You can make an additional donation to Women in Tech® USA here.