Despite increasing levels of neurodiversity awareness in general terms, there are currently no reliable statistics about how many neurodivergent women are employed by the tech sector specifically.
For instance, a 2023 survey by Code First Girls, which provides free coding education and employment support, indicated that around 27% of respondents identified as neurodivergent. But just over half had chosen not to disclose their diagnosis to either their employer or educational establishment.
A similar report was published a year later by the now defunct Tech Talent Charter, which promoted diversity, equity and inclusion in tech. It revealed that a mere 3% of employers believe they employ neurodivergent workers. An employee survey, on the other hand, showed that the number of people identifying as neurodivergent was more like 50%.
What muddies the waters even more in the case of women though is that they tend to be underdiagnosed, particularly in comparison to men. Kristin Austin is Vice President of Culture and Social Impact at Rewriting the Code, which supports university students and early career women in tech. She explains:
Neurodiversity presents differently in women to men. For example, with ADHD in women, it appears as perfectionism, being high or over-achieving, rigidity, and hyper-focusing on detail. But in men, it often shows in more physical ways so being very impulsive and motor driven.
Amirtha Sureshbabu is a Software Engineer with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Science in Operations Research at the University of Columbia. She is autistic, has ADHD, and is currently between jobs. In her view:
Neurodivergent men also fight the internal battles of inadequacy and lack of belonging, but their neurodivergent appearance is more socially acceptable than that of women. Even in diagnoses, practitioners are more likely to dismiss women because the stereotypical traits of neurodivergence, stemming from male-dominated research, present differently in female patients. In tech recruitment, men’s weaknesses are evaluated with far less scrutiny. For example, if a neurodivergent male candidate switches their approach multiple times on a coding challenge, the interviewer assumes he ‘thinks quickly on his feet’ and ‘solves problems from different angles’. If a female neurodivergent does the same thing, the interviewer thinks that she is ‘not consistent with her approach’ and ‘too anxious’ to perform in a stressful environment.
To make matters worse, Sureshbabu says:
During the recruitment process, many of us are treated with generic niceties at best and blatant discrimination at worst… None of these experiences stem from a lack of skills or knowledge – in a world where neurodivergent individuals are told to ‘fit the mold’ when it isn’t our shape, how can any of us be a model candidate?
The experience of neurodivergent women in the tech workplace
But there are also challenges to be faced once neurodivergent women do find employment, she points out:
In the workplace, I’ve encountered men who have a reputation for being blunt or crude in meetings and working odd hours outside of the office. All of them received exceptions and special treatment from their managers, who never failed to defend them at every opportunity. If and when I ever asked my manager to work remotely from illness or injury, I usually had a one-on-one later that month that primarily targeted me for ‘working too much from home’…We’re fed the idea of protection and safety during recruitment and even onboarding, but the reality is that any company’s culture, which is to ‘keep your head down and do your work’, does not give room to go against the status quo
The situation is also not helped by neurodivergent women feeling less able to have open and honest conversations about their struggles in the workplace – despite company policies encouraging them to share their experiences:
Since childhood, women have been taught to conceal our weaknesses and speak softly when it is our turn. Being transparent about how much effort went into a project or how a coworker made me uncomfortable felt detrimental to my growth at the company and my career. As a result, I internalized every frustration and criticism, which negatively impacted my physical and mental health.
Unfortunately, such a situation is not unusual and has potentially serious implications, says Austin:
Neurodiverse women are less likely to be believed about their symptoms and more likely to experience burnout. They’re also less likely to have access to pharmacology and mental health support. A key problem is believability. For example, I have ADHD, but present as being very high performing. But it makes my diagnosis less likely to be believed as I’m articulate and extrovert. People say: ‘You’re just disorganized’. But I say: ‘No, it takes me three times longer to do certain tasks because I’m neurodivergent.’
Hana Gabrielle Bidon is a Research Assistant at Cornell University who is both autistic and has ADHD. She undertook a degree in Information Science, Systems, and Technology at Cornell, and after graduating in 2021 was invited to join an independent research project by a psychology research professor. Her focus here was on ‘the effects of autism status and gender identity on friendship development in adulthood’.
The experience made her realize she wanted to work in data analytics, with a particular focus on analyzing behavioural information. But after experiencing employment at a couple of organizations, Bidon describes her experience of the workplace as a “mixed bag”:
It’s been a positive experience disclosing my neurodivergence to my past managers but having to constantly mask my auditory processing issues has been a nightmare, especially with Zoom calls and Microsoft Team meetings…I mask my neurodivergence pretty well from feeling pressured to act as normal as possible. I had to reach boiling point to disclose these challenges in the first place.
Just how inclusive is the tech industry really?
As to why so many neurodivergent people of all genders opt for a career in tech anyway, Austin believes it is because:
Many neurodivergent people enjoy problem solving but like to be individual contributors, so the work calls to them. There’s also the simple cliche that there are ‘weird guys in tech’, which has a pejorative tone, but it’s because of that stereotyping they tend to gravitate towards the industry. And the more neurodiverse people there are in tech, the more open to them, tech becomes.
But Sureshbabu is not convinced the tech industry is quite as inclusive as it likes to think it is:
Tech employers have spurred many conversations on inclusivity and accommodating their employees, but these conversations do not always reflect changes in the workplace… Despite the increasing diversity across candidates, employers still expect a traditionally presenting person for the role. Unfortunately, more often than not, employers will choose the ‘safest’ option, usually a cishet, neurotypical male, to avoid any potential liabilities. Although employers are legally not allowed to discriminate against candidates by their minority representation, they can still deny them or even rescind offers by citing vague reasons.
Bidon, meanwhile, acknowledges the tech sector is “more friendly” to neurodivergent people than other industries, such as hospitality. But she also feels there “needs to be a much better way to educate people about neurodivergence, especially beyond autism and ADHD”. She explains:
I wish it were more acceptable to talk openly about the struggles that come with neurodivergence. It’s not merely a ‘quirky social media trend’. It’s real, and it’s difficult to constantly mask my neurodivergent traits just to survive in the workplace. I think there should be an easier process to disclose neurodivergence beyond getting accommodations and reaching a boiling point with the struggles.
This is particularly true for neurodivergent women of color, Bidon, who is Filipino-American, says:
It’s harder for people to believe that people of color can also be neurodivergent. I hope [in future], it’ll become easier for neurodivergent people to show their best selves at work without all the bullying, microaggressions, and being pushed out by their co-workers.
Sureshbabu agrees, pointing out that enabling neurodivergent women to share any issues they may be facing, is vital. This is not least as many do not see work as a “safe space because they are more likely to experience microaggressions and harassment than outside of the office”. She explains:
Beyond the optional semi-annual surveys, neurodivergent employees require a safe space to express their concerns and describe the negative experiences that impact their work. Managers and senior leadership need to translate this feedback into actionable goals that are then reflected to their employees. For many neurodivergent individuals, our opinions have been valued very little, or even discarded, because the rest of the world does not want to change its ways. If companies reinforced individual feedback in the same way they re-inforce company policies, employees would feel safer and inclined to work harder.
My take
The situation for neurodivergent women in tech does appear to be particularly difficult, particularly if other intersectional characteristics, such as race, are thrown into the mix. Sureshbabu sums up the situation nicely when she says:
Neurodivergent women already face unique hurdles in the workplace, but by factoring in this novel disparity, it is abundantly clear that we lack the systems to allow us to stand on an equal footing. There’s a lot of work to do for employers…Many employers value short-term changes to improve shareholder value but creating socially conscious goals will absolutely transform a company’s impact on the world in a positive way…As technology advances and the world becomes more divided, neurodivergent women are advocating for policies that benefit us all. While it is easy to accept a grim possibility for our future, employers currently have more power than any other institution to fight those odds and provide us with the hope to keep going.
