GE to bridge gender gap with 50:50 representation of women in technical roles

Riyadh — In keeping with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and its strategic goal, General Electric (GE) announced on Tuesday its plan of achieving 50:50 representation of women for all its technical entry-level programs in the region, especially in engineering, manufacturing, information technology and product management roles. The strategy reflects GE’s global initiative to have 20,000 women to fill STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) roles in the organization by 2020, said a press release. It also complements the ongoing initiatives of GE in the region to strengthen the participation of women in its workforce. In 2009, GE had no women on its team in Saudi Arabia. But today there are over 100, in addition to over 600 women who work at the all-female business process center opened by GE in association with Saudi Aramco and TCS in Riyadh. The goal is to hire 3,000 women for the center in the coming years. “Saudi Vision 2030 has set the target of women representing 30 percent of the workforce, and we are supporting the goal, with a clear outlook to hire and nurture women in technical roles,” said Hisham Al Bahkali, GE’s President & Chief Executive Officer for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. “Statistics show that 50% of university graduates in Saudi Arabia are female yet only 22% are represented in the workforce. We are committed to making a difference with our new strategic initiative,” he said. GE has also signed an MoU with the Asharqia Chamber of Commerce in Dammam to train 1000 women over the next five years at GE Garages facility. The training has commenced, with workshops on coding, 3D printing, and 3D modelling, to enhance digital industrial skills of women in industry. Nabil Habayeb, GE’s President & Chief Executive Officer for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said: “Our focus has always been to create a truly inclusive culture, fostering a climate that enables women’s employment and leadership. Our focus on 50:50 representation catalyzes our own transformation as a digital industrial company.” GE has launched a white paper that highlights the economic opportunity of addressing gender imbalance across the sector. It states that women are still under-represented in the technology sector with 13-24% represented in IT and engineering positions globally, and just 17-30% ascending to senior leadership positions. While women tend to outnumber men in higher education (55% to 45%), STEM education drops significantly. GE Chief Economist Marco Annunziata said: “Unless we bring more women into technology and manufacturing, there will be a significant negative economic impact on the sector. This is a problem for business to actively address.”