Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) is leading the way in addressing the disparities that women in IT face. Ellena Schoop, an enterprise data architect, and Dr. Annie Porbeni, assistant HR director leverage the statewide Employee Resource Group (ERG) to build a network of women — Women IT ChangeMakers. The resource group will begin the work to address conversations women in IT have been having for years: the difficulty women have moving from traditional business to IT, the lack of promotion opportunity and/or career pathways that support women in technology, wage disparity, among others.

“In the coming years, public-sector IT in Minnesota will continue to face challenges retaining talent and competing for talent with the private sector,” says MNIT Commissioner Tarek Tomes. “If we want to remove structural inequities and improve the lives of all Minnesotans, our state agency workforce must be reflective of the communities we serve. A diverse workforce dedicated to the mission of helping everyone is our competitive advantage.”

Women IT Changemakers began in November 2019 and has grown to include over 100 women throughout the state . This includes private and non-profit partnerships. The group is looking to expand its membership to be inclusive of the technologists and data scientists throughout state government. While MNIT continues to outperform its IT peers when it comes to hiring and retaining women in the workplace, we know that it is important to shed light on this issue.

Since the disparity of women leadership in technology impacts women the most, it is important that women help define and implementable the strategy to close the gap. According to Fast Company, “This year’s Women in the Workplace survey discovered that one of the biggest hurdles women face is making the leap into management roles. This is an area where women still remain underrepresented as they are less likely to be hired into management roles and even more unlikely to be promoted into them.”

“This is a retention issue but also a gap in women’s voices,” says Ellena Schoop. “When we don’t have women playing a key role in IT, we miss out on ideas and ingenuity, especially in leadership.”

Women IT ChangeMakers established six workgroups that will address these hurdles focused on: accountability, leadership, outreach, education, and awards. These workgroups will create workplans for actions that can take place within the next year.