Gender Diversity in Design Leadership: There are more female than male UX designers in the world. Is this true in design
leadership?

By Claire Kwon, Director of Product Design at Blackline

Tech Inclusion
Tech Inclusion

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The following is a repost of an article Claire Kwon wrote for Medium.com in January 2020. Claire will be speaking at the Tech Inclusion 2020 Career Fair on Thursday, October 15th from 2:00–3:00PM PT. The session will focus on female leadership in UX and how Claire built a diverse design team and will be followed by Q&A with Claire and BlackLine recruiter, Taylor Daeley.

“Iwent to a dinner event last Fall where local design leaders met and discussed their interests and challenges. It was a great event and I enjoyed the food, drinks, and conversations we shared. And I couldn’t help but notice something in the room, the gender ratio.

There were 23 attendees, 17 men and 6 women (74% and 26% respectively).

I confess that I have never paid attention to the gender ratio in UX leadership. Maybe because many of my female friends hold leadership positions and I have been a director for a while. Looking back, I must have thought that female UXers have equal (if not more) representation in UX leadership. I must have believed that design was a minority, women were the minority, yet,
UX leadership by women was common in tech. This was mind-boggling.

It is common and well-known that women are minorities in tech companies. In meetings and off-site events for directors and above, I have been one of the few, except for one company where 90% of directors were female (yet all C-level executives were male). I have not yet had a female
supervisor.

I am sure a lot of us have experienced similar situations and are used to this because:
- Most tech companies have a much larger engineering department where women account for 37% on average (Footnote 1).
- Design is often a small department and therefore doesn’t have the same presence as engineering. For example, there are multiple directors and VPs in the engineering department whereas for design, there’s usually only one director.
- Depending on the organization’s design maturity and business strategy, there are not many C-level or VP level design leader positions.

As a result, there are many more men in tech organizations — only 5% of leadership positions are held by women in Tech (see The State of Women in Tech infographics). Additionally, design as a department often represents a small percentage within the organization. So if you happen to be a woman and a design leader, you’re likely surrounded by a lot of men.

What really hit me at the dinner event was that unlike engineering, women make up over half of the workforce in UX (Footnote 2) — we are not a minority. However, only 30% of the design leaders at that event were women.

So where were all of the female UX senior leaders?

It is not fair to say that this dinner event is representative of where we are in gender equality in design leadership. I have requested and received a ratio based on a more comprehensive sample dataset (all members instead of who showed up to the event) to learn if the sample data is an appropriate representation. And yes, it is. Roughly 37% of the group from a total of 2,000+ members in 40 countries globally is composed of those who identify themselves as female as of November 6, 2019.

If you are a design leader, we have opportunities to be mentors and/or role models for the next generation of women design leaders. Having more presence and voice within a company will contribute to the company culture of gender diversity and open up more opportunities for many talented women designers. We should also work harder on building a culture as a leader where
designers have equal career growth opportunities and feel safe to learn and grow. We are responsible.

As always, I would love to learn about your experience and insights”.

We’d like to thank Blackline for their sponsorship of Tech Inclusion 2020: The Next Wave of Leadership! Join us October 13–15 for a virtual experience and a global discussion about the changes happening in the tech industry and what actions are needed today.

This year we’ll strategize how we can create equity in the tech industry, how Venture Capital and entrepreneurship ecosystems are evolving to become more inclusive, and the impact of the stories we consume and share in the media. We’ll explore ways to build more ethical and accessible products and services, improve mental health and wellness, and use tech to drive civic engagement and combat voter suppression. We’ll look at the present and the future of work, how COVID-19 has impacted the industry, and what the industry can contribute to the fight to save lives. We’ll have sessions on what empathetic leaders must do to promote inclusion, allyship, and anti-racism across global teams. And if you’re looking for a job, or you’re a company looking to hire: we’ve got you. Our Tech Inclusion Career Fair is going virtual too!

This has been a year. Let’s talk about it, let’s work to heal from it, and let’s focus on the solutions needed to move forward.

Register now for #TechInclusion 2020!

About Change Catalyst

Change Catalyst empowers diverse, inclusive, and sustainable tech innovation — through events, consulting, research, and training. Our Tech Inclusion programs explore and develop innovative solutions to tech diversity and inclusion.

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Footnote:
1. Richter, Felix. “Infographic: The Tech World Is Still a Man’s World.” Statista Infographics, March 8, 2019. https://www.statista.com/chart/4467/female-employees-at-tech-companies/.
2. According to the Career Explorer report earlier this year, 53% of UX designers are female and 47% are male. In 2017 UX and User Research Industry Survey Report by usertesting.com, the gender ratio in UX is reported as 51% female, 48% male (1% did not choose).

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