“ I AM ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF YOUNG DATA CENTRE PROFESSIONALS .
WOMEN IN DATA CENTRES
For example , I recently attended a planning meeting where everyone else in the room was male – from the client team , operator , landowner , lawyers , advisors – and maybe I could have seen that as a disadvantage , but I feel I just have to get stuck in .
I think we ' ve come a long way in terms of attitudes towards women in the workplace , both from a real estate and data centre perspective , but it will make a big difference once we can actually see more women in the space .
What would you say to young women who might be considering taking up a career in this field ?
Go for it ! There ' s so much room and scope for growth . That applies to young men as well – I think , as a sector , we ' re going to grow massively . It ’ s a fast-paced industry and requires a broad scope of skills which means it can appeal to a broad range of individuals .
However , it ’ s important to stress there ' s not enough senior women to look up to , especially in the sector I ’ m in , and it would be great to see this change over time .
“ I AM ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS OF YOUNG DATA CENTRE PROFESSIONALS .
Additionally , we need to look at attitudes towards paternity leave – it ' s advanced quite progressively . I believe men are benefitting from taking paternity leave , but it has a massive impact on women too in terms of having support from their partner .
If men were to take career breaks in the same way as women , or even slightly shorter breaks , it would help to level the playing field . Knight Frank ’ s parental leave policy equalises enhanced leave for all parents , regardless of gender .
Positive attitudes towards paternity and maternity leave and an understanding of being flexible when people return to work are crucial .
Do you have any concerns about the future for women in data centres and , if so , do you think this can be rectified ?
If I consider this from my own perspective , I will be in that first bracket of people who come out of university and go straight into data centres from a real estate perspective .
When my boss or his boss started their careers , data centres weren ' t a thing .
The challenge might lie with women and whether they ’ re able to keep up with men at the same rate of acceleration throughout their career . Will we be met with any form of glass ceiling as we progress ?
Do you have anything more you ’ d like to add ?
There is a massive data centre skill shortage which is terrifying . It ' s a wider problem that everyone needs to put their heads together on .
There ' s a problem across STEM generally which will require education as a first step : targeting schools and universities .
Particularly in universities , there ' s a lot of groups for women that we should be targeting , providing information to and highlighting just how exciting the data centre sector is .
I am one of the founding members of Young Data Centre Professionals . It ' s for young people in data centres generally , not specifically women , and we are trying to put events together for young people .
As part of that , I want to reach out to as many young women in the data centre space to get them involved so that as we go through our careers , we can build our own network of young people and the data centre industry and specifically women . �
How can companies do more to accommodate flexible working arrangements for women and how can men better support such initiatives ?
I think it ' s two-fold ; covering both paternity and maternity leave . It ' s understanding that if a woman takes a career break , it ’ s difficult to just slot right back in . It ’ s important to find flexible arrangements when women return to work – a supportive environment is crucial .
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