Technology seems to amaze everyone out there, but there are only a few who actually are making a mark with regard to the same in and around the Kingdom of Bahrain. As we grow out from a chaotic year, falling back to routine seems to be more than just reviving the past. We now look towards an evolved and better future. The critics call it “the new normal.” And no denying that these years of the pandemic have brought demand to the IT sector beyond anticipated.

Current employment generation in IT:

In the US, IT (Technology) has over 130,000 net-new jobs in 2021, with a growth rate of 2.5 percent since 2020. Software developers, systems analysts, cybersecurity analysts, network architects, and IT support specialists recorded the largest gains in employment. These jobs reached an estimated 8.0 million workers in 2020 and are expected to increase to 166,879 jobs in 2021. Find out IT job openings in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia here.

According to global workforce statistics, although Women take up to 47.7% of the global workforce. Unfortunately, the tech domain sees just 26% of women employed in the US sector compared to men, as the guide for tech workforce analytics says. And here we are, recognizing and narrowing them down.

Some of the most influential women in the global tech industries and in Bahrain:

• Muna Al Hashemi, Former Chief Executive Officer-Batelco Bahrain, and Group Deputy CEO. Board member in Fintech Committee of SCW.
• Parisa Tabriz, Google’s own “Security Princess,” while being the Director of Engineering-Chrome.
• Susan Diane Wojcicki, CEO- YouTube.
• Lisa Su, President, and CEO- Advanced Micro Devices, a Fortune 500 technology leader.
• Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People eXperience and Technology-Amazon.
• Safra A. Catz, CEO- Oracle Corporation.
• Susie Sharawi is Partner within the Deloitte Cyber Risk Services practice and is North South Europe (NSE) Cyber Talent Partner.
• Fumbi Chima,  Chief Information Officer – FOX Networks Group.
• Aziza AlRashdi is the Cybersecurity Professional Services Director-Oman National CERT, Ministry of Technology and Communications.
• Dr. Moudhi is the General Manager of the ICT School-STC Academy ( Saudi Telcom Company). Dr. Moudhi Aljamea has a Ph.D. in Computer Security Algorithms Design from King’s College London, besides being an Ethical Hacker.
• Dr. Reem Al-Shammari, Information Security Team Leader at Kuwait Oil Company – Chief Information Security Officer “CISO,” CoFounder of the Women in CyberSecurity MiddleEast (WiCSME) Group and the Lead of Kuwait Affiliate of this WiCSME Group as well as representing Kuwait in UK-Gulf Women in Cyber Fellowship Program.
• Abeer Khedr is the Information Security Director- National Bank of Egypt (NBE). She is called Top Regional Government Security Leader in the Middle East and simultaneously has been among the Top 50 Influential Women in Egypt.
• Dr. Haya Abdullah Almagwashi is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems Security and Privacy – King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, and a cybersecurity consultant.
• Amina Al Rustamani is a businesswoman as well as an electrical engineer. She is currently the director-AW Rostamani Group, UAE. She ranked number 9 in the CEO Middle East’s fifth annual list of the world’s most powerful Arab women in 2015.

The core reason being the lack of knowledge on the scope of the tech industry. Thus leading to less percentile of women in IT. Moreover, women are less encouraged to choose Science-Technology-Engineering-Maths (STEM) as a career earlier. In addition to these stats, the concept of IT being a boys club is another reason for demotivation.

To wrap up, women are breaking barriers and rising ahead, and we hope to see more women successfully employed in all tech careers in Bahrain. Find more about IT courses in Bahrain with Trainme Online. Although we have more to enlist, many of the contributions of women in the IT era have gone unseen. Maybe their journey stays like that, like the story of unsung heroines.