Yearly, between 40,000 and 60,000 girls go away tech roles within the UK. Learn that once more. Not girls who by no means entered the business – girls who did, and then left. That’s not only a variety statistic. It’s a management drawback, an innovation drawback, and more and more, an financial one.
To know what’s actually occurring – and what wants to alter – UC At present sat down with Emily Corridor-Strutt, Founder Director of Subsequent Tech Ladies, an organisation that connects women and younger girls from underrepresented backgrounds to actual careers in expertise. What adopted was one of the trustworthy conversations on this matter in years.
Ladies in Tech: Why the Pipeline Drawback Begins Earlier Than You Assume
Ask most individuals why there aren’t extra girls in tech, and they’ll level to an absence of curiosity. Emily Corridor-Strutt has spent years talking to younger girls, educators, and employers – and she’s discovered that framing to be virtually completely flawed.
“I’m discovering it’s much less a few lack of curiosity and far more a few lack of expertise of what working in tech really means… The kinds of roles that exist are shrouded in thriller. After which there are the stereotypes – tech being all about coding, tech being for boys – that actually don’t assist.”
The result’s a technology of younger girls who might thrive in tech, however by no means make it to the beginning line – not as a result of they don’t wish to, however as a result of nobody ever confirmed them the door.
Gender Variety in Expertise: The Confidence and Entry Hole
Right here’s what usually will get missed within the women-in-tech dialog: inspiration, whereas essential, isn’t the most important blocker. Emily is evident on this.
“The larger hole isn’t really inspiration. It’s confidence, it’s alternative, it’s entry.”
And the timing couldn’t be worse. Early careers alternatives in tech have shrunk considerably over the past two years – post-Covid contraction, market shifts, and the rising affect of AI on hiring have all contributed. The outcome? Younger girls who’ve performed the whole lot proper – constructed the abilities, gained the {qualifications}, developed the curiosity – are nonetheless struggling to get that first foot within the door.
“We’re working with tons of, even hundreds, of younger girls who’ve determined they wish to be in tech. However really having the ability to get that entry-level function is changing into more and more tough.”
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Function Fashions for Ladies in Tech: Why Proximity Issues Extra Than Fame
A placing statistic frames this problem properly: 78% of A-level and college college students surveyed couldn’t identify a single well-known lady in tech. If women can’t see girls main within the business, how do they start to think about themselves there?
Emily’s reply was nuanced. Visibility alone isn’t the entire story – individuals discover their approach into roles they’d by no means imagined on a regular basis. However relatable function fashions nonetheless play a vastly essential half in serving to younger girls see tech as a practical and attainable choice, significantly when these function fashions really feel near dwelling. She defined that:
“It’s good to see individuals you may really relate to. It’s so much simpler to think about your self doing one thing when you may see somebody such as you doing it – particularly in the event that they’re just a few years older than you. It feels attainable.”
That’s why Subsequent Tech Ladies intentionally platforms girls who’re interns, apprentices, or latest graduates – not simply polished executives – in addition to girls from a variety of ethnic, non secular, socio-economic and academic backgrounds. The purpose is easy: each woman who attends an occasion ought to see somebody who appears to be like, in a roundabout way, like her.
Tips on how to Retain Ladies in Tech: Tradition, Sponsorship, and Fixing the Leaky Pipe
Getting girls into the business is simply half the battle. Preserving them there – and serving to them progress – is the place many organisations are nonetheless falling quick. Solely 5% of tech management roles are held by girls. That quantity hasn’t shifted quick sufficient, and Emily has a transparent view on why.
The Lovelace Report, printed final yr by We Are Tech Ladies and Oliver Wyman, recognized the 2 largest causes girls go away tech: lack of development alternatives and lack of sponsorship. Emily sees this play out repeatedly.
“There’s an absence of girls in these senior roles who can actively sponsor different girls arising behind them,”
Sponsorship, she famous, tends to occur organically via present networks and relationships – which suggests girls, who are sometimes exterior these established circles, can discover themselves at a structural drawback in relation to accessing the advocacy that drives careers ahead.
The result’s a spot that compounds over time. Ladies enter the business, hit a ceiling, and go away – not as a result of they lack ambition or potential, however as a result of the networks that drive development merely aren’t equally accessible to them.
The repair, she argued, has to come from the highest. Organisations have to audit their very own knowledge – not simply on the headline degree, however by function sort, seniority, and retention charge. Some firms have robust early careers consumption however lose girls inside a decade. Others have senior feminine leaders however virtually no girls in technical roles. The issue appears to be like completely different in each organisation, and the answer has to match.
Ladies in Tech Management: Why Empathy Is the Edge, Not the Weak point
Some of the compelling components of the dialog touched on management itself – particularly, the bias that also pushes girls in senior tech roles to undertake extra stereotypically “masculine” traits to be taken severely.
Emily is optimistic that that is altering, and he or she pointed to an unlikely catalyst: AI. She stated that
“As AI integrates itself an increasing number of, how can we stand out as particular person contributors? Empathy is an enormous a part of that. The bits that employers will nonetheless want people for are going to be relationship constructing, individuals administration – the issues that girls have a tendency to essentially excel at.”
Her argument is that the AI period might really revalue the so-called “smooth expertise” which have lengthy been underestimated in tech – and in doing so, create an atmosphere the place the traits girls convey to management are lastly recognised as aggressive benefits moderately than skilled liabilities.
What Significant Progress Really Seems to be Like
When requested what her North Star appears to be like like, Emily’s reply was disarming in its simplicity.
“For organisations like mine not being wanted anymore. I’d like to get to a degree the place we don’t even speak about somebody as ‘a lady in tech.’ Simply: she’s a software program developer. And for that to be fully regular.”
For enterprise leaders who wish to help that mission however don’t know the place to start out, Emily’s recommendation is easy: begin with the information. Lower it by degree, by operate, by tenure. Discuss to the individuals already within the organisation. Perceive the place girls are being misplaced, and then work with organisations – like Subsequent Tech Ladies – which might be already sitting on pipelines of motivated, certified candidates who’re able to contribute.
The enterprise case has been made. Numerous groups at management degree outperform. The one query left is whether or not the business is keen to cease treating this as a facet initiative and begin treating it as what it really is – a elementary requirement for constructing expertise that works for everybody.
Subsequent Tech Fest 2026: Bringing the Way forward for Tech to Life
For anybody who desires to see this mission in motion, Subsequent Tech Fest is the place to be.
What Is Subsequent Tech Fest and When Is It Taking Place?
Subsequent Tech Fest is Subsequent Tech Ladies’ flagship annual occasion, happening on 29 July 2026 at CodeNode in London. It brings collectively tons of of women and younger girls with employers, function fashions and business leaders for a day of workshops, panels, mentoring, networking and profession insights.
Who Is It For and Why Ought to Somebody Attend?
The occasion is designed for ladies and younger girls aged 16-25 who wish to discover careers in tech and join instantly with employers. Final yr, we had greater than 350 attendees from 97 academic establishments, with 86% coming from ethnic backgrounds which might be underrepresented in tech and 96% leaving feeling assured about pursuing a profession within the business.
What Conversations and Themes Are You Anticipating to Dominate the Day?
AI will undoubtedly be a serious focus, alongside cyber safety, digital transformation (significantly within the public sector), rising applied sciences, employability and the various completely different routes into tech careers. A key theme will probably be making certain future alternatives in tech are accessible to everybody.
How Can You Signal Up?
Free tickets will probably be launched within the coming weeks, with precedence entry given to members of the Subsequent Tech Ladies group. College students, dad and mom and educators can be part of the mailing record by way of the Subsequent Tech Ladies web site to be among the many first to listen to when registration opens.
Employers all for sponsoring, exhibiting, talking or mentoring on the occasion can join with Emily on LinkedIn to study extra concerning the remaining alternatives.
To learn extra about expertise and worker expertise, learn UC At present’s final information
