We can’t afford to celebrate International Women’s Day in the tech sector
I am not a person prone to rage and fury, but this International Women’s day, I am angry.
How did we get here? How did we arrive at a moment where the very idea of diversity, equity, and inclusion—concepts that should be as uncontroversial as the importance of growth—are being rolled back in some of the most powerful companies in the world?
After three decades in and around the technology sector, I've witnessed something that should alarm us all: not progress, but regression. I've seen no meaningful change in the relationship between the sector and women over my career. In fact, I've seen a degradation, not just in culture but in the absolute numbers.
The tech sector, once heralded as a beacon of innovation and progress, is now retreating from its commitments to building diverse teams. After Trump's executive order, Google has abandoned its diversity targets. Meta has dissolved entire teams. And let's not pretend this is just about economics or restructuring - this is about priorities—and right now, women and marginalized groups are being told they're not one.
Globally, women make up just 26% of the tech workforce. In AI and data roles, that number plummets to 12%. And in leadership? A mere 14%. Think about that for a moment. In an industry that shapes the future of everything—our jobs, our communication, our democracy—half the population is barely represented.
In the UK, the picture is equally bleak: women hold only 20% of software engineering roles and just 21% of senior positions in tech. Some reports suggest that just 6% of leadership roles in the UK tech sector are filled by women. These aren't just numbers; they're missed opportunities for innovation, creativity, and growth.
More dispiriting still, as we watch the importance of AI, quantum and cybersecurity grow within the sector, the numbers of women are even lower. We are building products and services of the future from the same old power bases as before.
The challenge is not just the absolute numbers in the workforce,—it's also about access to funding to start the digital businesses of the future. Female founders in the UK received only 1.8% of equity investment last year. Yet if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, we would add £250 billion to the UK economy.
So why aren't we doing everything possible to unlock that potential?
This is what I find most enraging—the disconnect between what we know to be true and what we're willing to do about it.
We know that consumers care that their products come from diverse teams. We know that employees—particularly the younger generation—care deeply about working in diverse environments. They choose careers in businesses that look and feel inclusive.
We also have extensive research showing that diverse teams drive better financial performance. The Harvard Business Review said it clearly back in 2015: mixed and diverse teams lead to a 20% increase in your profit line. Female-founded scaleups in the UK invest 38% of their raised capital into R&D, making them twice as innovative as typical firms.
This isn't just about fairness—though that would be reason enough. It's about building better businesses.
And yet here we are—watching companies dismantle programs designed to level the playing field. They claim it's about "changing political climates" or "economic pressures." But let's call it what it is: a failure of courage. A failure to stand up for what's right when it's inconvenient or controversial or might ignite Presidential ire.
I cannot believe that there is a single person who looks like me, who has worked on the edges of the digital sector for so long, who did not feel like crying as they watched the US presidential inauguration. Those six tech leaders who run so much of the society we live in, have completely and totally committed to a President who has repeatedly degraded the role of women.
Worse still, we are now seeing the enormous influence of the US technology sector being integrated into the culture of our own companies here in the UK. This matters—culture matters, character matters, values of companies and their leaders matter.
Across industries, diversity and equality has become a political football—a target for lawsuits and backlash. Companies are rebranding their efforts or abandoning them altogether because they fear being labeled "woke." But inclusivity is smart. It's good business.
Why am I so preoccupied with the digital world? I am preoccupied because software is eating the world. Digitization isn't optional; it's inevitable. These digital jobs are the jobs of the future - the jobs that create the services of the future and the jobs that will command the highest salaries. The failure to broaden the sector leads to abuses of power, and a lack of justice, and fairness.
These are the reasons I am dismayed when I see the numbers. I keep going back to the disconnect between what I see happening right now and the benefits of putting diversity at the heart of a company strategy. I just cannot understand this disconnect. That is why I am angry.
We have to take this issue seriously and try to create substantial change. There are solutions.
First, innovation and entrepreneurship. With so little venture capital funding going to women-led startups, there is much opportunity. We must not only focus on the entrepreneurial women but also the people giving out the money - only 7% of venture capital partners are women.
It is practically too obvious to state, but If the teams of people who give out money are so dominated by men, of course it will seem more risky to fund a broad range of products and services from teams that might seem unfamiliar.
Only 40% of women apply for business funding, compared to 70% of men, due to barriers such as fear of rejection and lack of access to financial products. These aren't inherent differences; they're systemic barriers. We must not give up the focus on finance; it is fundamental.
Secondly, it is essential to work on the culture of the sector. This is more difficult, more existential. I had never used the words "diversity, equality and inclusion" or "DEI" in my life until the last few months, yet I find myself defending the very notion of equality to journalists, people I work with, companions in the sector and outside it. Just because some programs were flawed does not mean the fundamental aspiration to broaden the sector was also flawed. Personally I do not want to put my pronouns on my profile, but I do want more people from more genders and more ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds to be the influential voices around me.
We need to hold companies accountable—not just for their words but for their actions. If they claim to value diversity, let's see the data: Who are they hiring? Who are they promoting? How are they creating flexible working environments? What does their leadership actually look like? Transparency isn't optional; it's essential.
We also need to invest in the pipeline—because change doesn't start in boardrooms; it starts in classrooms. Right now, only 27% of female students in the UK consider careers in tech compared to 61% of male. That gap isn't just disappointing; it's devastating for our future workforce.
A staggering 76% of women in tech report experiencing gender discrimination or bias at work. Is it any wonder why many choose to leave or never enter the field at all?
Finally, we must recognise that we have not been successful to date and need new ideas and new momentum to achieve change.
I wish I did not have to make speeches or write articles about this anymore, but that is not an option for any of us lucky to have a voice. I implore you also to feel the peril and urgency of this moment. I am angry and nervous, and we have to keep fighting.
Thanks for writing this Martha! This particularly resonated - "This is what I find most enraging—the disconnect between what we know to be true and what we're willing to do about it."
Thank you for writing this, Martha. It needed to be said.
Last summer, I spent a lot of time talking to past, present and potential sponsors for Ada Lovelace Day to try to understand whether the event – or should I say movement, given how many people celebrate it around the world – could continue. Company after company told me that they were up against it financially, and couldn't afford to sponsor anything that wasn't going to directly result in sales.
So I made the difficult decision to close it. And the response from industry: Crickets.
I know of so many other organisations and campaigns for women in STEM that have had to close or scale back operations, or who have just gone dark, and for the vast majority funding is the problem.
When I founded Ada Lovelace Day in 2009, there was nothing like it. No grassroots organisations campaigning for women in STEM the way I was. Over the last 16 years, similar groups and organisations have sprung up all over the place, each serving their own specific audience. It's been marvellous.
But what we're seeing now isn't a consolidation – that would imply that the women and girls served by one closed organisation are now being served by another, but that's not what's happening. What we're seeing is a wholesale abandonment.
We're losing all that expertise, all that knowledge of what does work. We're losing all those supportive communities of women (and men). We're losing all that visibility, the role models, the inspiration. It's all been tossed out because a small number of incredibly powerful and influential men have figured out that they can let their misogyny show and they won't suffer any repercussions.
I genuinely don't know how we move forward or what we do next. I don't even know what I do next.