Three quarters of British public unable to identify female leaders in technology
78 per cent on Brits recognise the name Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, but only eight per cent have heard of Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, research has found.
The research of 4,000 British adults found that only 17 per cent knew of Martha Lane Fox, founder of Lastminute.com, while 90 per cent of the nation had heard of Bill Gates and 70 per cent knew who Steve Jobs was.
In total, 73 per cent of those surveyed said they had not heard of any high-ranking women in IT, such as Renee James, Intel president, and yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.
McAfee conducted the research to remember the 7,500 women who worked at Bletchley Park deciphering and decoding encrypted messages and ciphers during World War 2.
“Women have always played an important role in the growth and development of the technology industry,” said Samantha Humphries-Swift, McAfee labs manager.
“Thousands of women famously worked tirelessly to break German codes and ciphers at Bletchley Park during World War II.
“At the forefront of the genesis of cybersecurity as we know it today, these women were the original female role models of modern computing. It’s this history, combined with the leaders in technology today that should serve to inspire current and future generations of both men and women into the world of IT.”
Interestingly, the research found that 77 per cent of UK women had not heard of any high-profile women in IT, compared to only 66 per cent of men.