A Hampshire telecoms firm has joined forced with other organisation in a bid to raise the number of women taking up technology roles in the UK.

Onecom at Whitley – the s the UK’s largest independent business telecommunications provider – has signed up to the ‘Tech She Can Charter’ which is bidding to inspire more young women to pursue technology careers.

Currently only 23 per cent of people working in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering , Maths) jobs are female.

PwC’s research Women in Tech: Time to Close the Gender Gap reveals that only just over a quarter (27 per cent) of women say they would consider a career in technology, compared to 62 per cent of males. Only three per cent of females say it is their first choice of career.

Among the reasons give for this are a lack of information at school about what working in technology involves and a shortage of female role models. Many girls say that a tech job is never even presented to them as a career option.

The Tech She Can signatories believe the UK could lose its competitive edge on the world stage if more women are not involved in the sector.

The founding signatories include PwC, British Science Association, Business 3.0, Digital Jam, everywoman, FDisruptors, Girlguiding, InnovateHer, JP Morgan, Modern Muse, money.co.uk, NatWest Markets, Sophos, Smoothwall, TechGirls, Tech Talent Charter, Tesco, T Systems, and Zoopla Property Group. More organisations are expected to join.

Parysa Hosseini-Sech (pictured), head of Human Resources at Onecom, said: ““The gender imbalance in technology roles is a key issue of our time that we need to work together to address head on.

“We’re already seeing the huge impact technology is having on our lives. If the sector and people in technology roles don’t reflect wider society there’s a real risk that the products and technology advances will be biased.

“The demand for technology skills from businesses is already reaching critical levels and is only set to increase. This is our chance to build a diverse and inclusive pipeline of technology talent, which will help position UK businesses at the forefront of innovation and investment in the future.”

The Tech She Can founding Charter signatories are signing up to the following actions:

● Working with schools to inspire pupils to consider a career in technology by developing technology toolkits

● Targeting schools in the Government’s social mobility ‘coldspots’

● Celebrating successful women in tech role models

● Ensuring inclusive access to technology roles in their own organisations

● Support the right environment to attract, recruit and retain females

Sheridan Ash, Women in Tech leader at PwC and The Tech She Can Charter founder, said: “Waiting until women are entering work is simply too late - to boost the number of females in technology we need to take coordinated action to start inspiring girls to consider technology careers while they are still at school.

“By working together we can reach more females at an earlier stage of their lives. We need to work harder to raise awareness about the exciting range of technology roles out there, in a sector that has the power to change the world. Promoting visible and relatable role models is a huge part of this, as it’s hard for girls to aspire to be something they can’t see.

“There are many brilliant women working in technology roles right across the UK, from creatives and designers, to coders and data scientists. Technology is open to all and we need to get that message across."