A recent study ranked San Antonio 53 of 59 U.S. cities for women in tech, with deficits in overall wages and the gender pay gap.
Median earnings for women in San Antonio's tech industry are 76% of those of men, compared to a national industry average of 83.5%, the SmartAsset study found. The Alamo City also comes in behind Dallas, Houston and Austin in terms of wages and the wage gap, the study indicated.
"As a community, we used to advertise ourselves as a place where you could find high talent at a lower cost," Amanda Lee Keammerer, CEO of local tech firm Javilud, told the Business Journal. "As the tech industry expanded, some lingering effects of that narrative continue — and it's women who bear the brunt."
Keammerer's company, Javilud, launched in 2017 and is a South Central Texas Regional Certification Agency-certified Women-owned Business Enterprise. It focuses on elevating women as subject matter experts through programs like the South Texas Association for International Relations. It also offers IT and cybersecurity consulting and builds internship programs.
Keammerer is also a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project and former vice president of cybersecurity and director of CyberSecurity San Antonio for the Chamber of Commerce.
Educational attainment is low in San Antonio, Keammerer said — 26% of San Antonio residents over 25 have a bachelor's degree or higher according to the U.S. Census Bureau — and women often carry the burden of household responsibilities. This feeds the wage gap cycle when women are perceived as lacking experience or continuity in employment, she added.
Employers need to dig into the uncomfortable topic of sexism in the workplace, she said, and have tough conversations about seniority, experience and merit-based promotion. Male supervisors need to be more proactive about supporting and recommending female employees for opportunities.
"I don't know if these conversations are happening at the speed or level that they should be and that might contribute to our ranking," she said. "Seeing this report — is it going to prompt employers to look within to see if men and women are getting paid equally within their organizations?"
Keammerer said employers should post salary ranges for every role available and welcome dialogue about salaries. Representation matters and companies should ensure websites feature women not just as nurses and teachers, but as "thinkers, dreamers, doers, scientists," she said. Helping employees navigate childcare challenges and having women participating more in hiring fairs were other recommendations.
A national report can't capture the full local picture, Keammerer noted. Many women in tech are in managerial and director positions, but aren't as visible as their male counterparts — often due to domestic workloads. Women are missing out on opportunities because they can't make an 8 p.m. event, she said. And often, women are invited to join panels only to speak on the experience of being a woman in the industry — instead of being invited to speak on their areas of expertise.
"Let women be nerds in public," she said. "That alone will change the perception."
