Published Feb 22, 2019 by A.J. Mistretta
As Houston makes strides towards advancing its tech workforce, women employed in the sector may reap the benefits. Houston is one of the top cities in the nation for women in tech, according to a new study that looked at factors such as the gender pay gap and percentage of females working in the sector.
Houston ranks 4th in the study released by online personal finance advisor SmartAsset. Tech is one field where women have traditionally faced more difficulty finding work and earning as much as men. The focus of the study was to look at cities where parity between men and women in tech is less of an in issue.
Women hold 26% of the tech jobs in Houston and over the last four years the total number of jobs in the field locally has grown by 19%. What’s more, women working in tech locally make essentially the same as their male counterparts, the lowest pay gap among the top five cities ranked in the study.
This is the first year Houston ranked among the top five cities in the SmartAsset report. Washington D.C. ranks first in the new report, followed by Baltimore and Philadelphia. Arlington, Va. Came in at No. 5 behind Houston.
The nonprofit Houston Exponential is working to make Houston a top 10 innovation ecosystem with the goal of creating 10,000 new technology jobs and generating $2 billion in venture capital annually by 2022. In October, the HX Venture Fund closed on its first round of capital with $25 million in commitments. The fund—a first of its kind for Houston—aims to appeal to leading venture capital firms to offer their expertise and risk capital to the region and create a pathway for innovation.