Almost 90 percent of women are leaving the sector within ten years of joining the UK tech industry, according to new research from Akamai that reveals the extent of an inclusion crisis that is costing the UK economy up to £3.5 billion a year.
The findings paint a damning picture of an industry that has long highlighted its diversity qualities but continues to lose women at the very moment they should be rising to the upper echelons. More than half of those who leave do so within five years, while the average tenure for a woman in tech is now just six years, a figure that suggests the sector’s much-touted pipeline initiatives are dumping talent directly into a leaky bucket.
Crucially, this is not a recruitment problem. Women leave mid-career, typically when their experience and expertise are most valuable. The reasons cited will be well known to anyone who has studied this issue over the past decade: poor working conditions, inadequate compensation, a lack of role models in leadership positions, and a work culture that remains stubbornly resistant to flexibility and true inclusion.
Elizabeth Anderson, executive director of the Digital Poverty Alliance, argues that the problem goes far beyond corporate balance sheets. “There is a clear and often overlooked connection between digital exclusion and the retention of women in the technology sector,” she said. “When workplaces fail to provide an inclusive, accessible environment – whether through equal access to tools, flexible working or supportive cultures – it can reinforce barriers that disproportionately impact women and ultimately push them out of the industry.”
Anderson warns of a feedback loop with national consequences. “If the people who design and deliver technology do not reflect the diversity of those who use it, we risk embedding exclusion into the digital services that underpin everyday life,” she said, pointing to the 19 million Britons who still live in digital poverty. “Representation in the tech industry is therefore not just a workforce issue, but a critical factor in ensuring technology works for everyone.”
The numbers support their case. Around a quarter of the UK technology workforce is women, but advancement into senior roles is only a fraction. The study suggests that structural barriers calcify the further up the career ladder you go.
For medium-sized businesses in particular, migration poses both a fundamental and a moral problem. Sheila Flavell CBE, chief operating officer of FDM Group, believes the answer lies in a coordinated approach between Whitehall and industry. “The findings that nearly 90 percent of women leave the tech industry within a decade highlight a challenge we can no longer ignore,” she said. “Skilling and retraining women in digital skills must be a priority.”
Flavell calls for clearer pathways into technical and leadership positions as well as targeted investments in artificial intelligence and digital training. She particularly emphasizes the need to support women returning to work after a career break. “This also means creating dedicated pathways for returnees who want to re-enter the workforce after a career break, to ensure experienced talent is not lost to the technology sector.”
The economic risks are considerable. The loss of mid-career women has a direct impact on the UK’s chronic technology skills shortage, with the resulting hit to productivity estimated at £2 billion to £3.5 billion each year. Much of this expertise is not being lost entirely, but is shifting across the board to financial services, education and healthcare, sectors that have proven more receptive to older female talent.
However, there is a hint of opportunity for employers willing to act. A significant proportion of women who left the industry said they would consider returning under improved conditions: better pay, transparent promotion opportunities, flexible working conditions and cultures that go beyond just ticking the box for inclusion. For the SMEs and scale-ups that dominate the UK’s tech landscape, this represents a significant pool of experienced talent that can be recaptured, provided they are willing to overhaul the structures that drove these women out in the first place.
The question now is whether the UK tech sector will treat this latest evidence as another statistic to archive or a wake-up call that is so obvious.
