Women in Tech UK Stats 2025

In 2025, over 9.4 million people work in STEM roles across the UK, yet women represent just 25% of this workforce—underscoring a persistent gender gap in one of the most critical sectors of the economy.

In high-growth fields like engineering and programming, women hold only 23% of roles, and just 16.9% across all engineering and technology jobs—despite accounting for 56% of the wider workforce.

These disparities begin early. While 52% of early-career STEM workers earned a degree in a STEM field, only 23% of Computer Science and 21% of Engineering & Technology students in 2022–23 were women or non-binary. At the current rate, gender parity may take 30 to 70 years to achieve.

Applications from women to computing degrees surged by 23% since 2019—the fastest-growing UCAS subject area. But women still comprise less than a quarter of entrants.

Tech teams remain overwhelmingly male. Women make up just 28% of tech team members in the UK—matching the global average, despite a growing pool of qualified female candidates. 

Between 40,000 and 60,000 women exit UK tech and digital roles annually, costing the economy £2 billion to £3.5 billion in lost productivity. Of this, £1.4–2.2B is lost when women leave tech entirely.

Pay & Promotion Barriers

• Women with 11–20 years' experience wait 3+ years for promotions (vs. 2 years for men)

• Over half earn below the expected pay for their level

• Nearly 80% of women have considered leaving tech due to a lack of recognition and career growth

The Real Reasons Women Leave

Caregiving is not the leading cause. Only 3% cite this. Instead:

• 25% leave due to lack of career growth

• 17%: lack of recognition

• 15%: inadequate pay

• 8%: toxic culture

Job Mobility and Future Intentions

• 64.8% of women in tech changed jobs in the past 5 years

• 32.2% plan to leave their current tech job

• 34.8% of them are leaving for non-tech roles 

Severe Underrepresentation in Emerging Tech

• Women make up just 17% of cybersecurity roles

• Only 20% of AI & data professionals are women

Education & Adoption Gaps

• GenAI course enrolment is booming (+227%), but only 31% of learners are women 

• 68% of UK women in tech use GenAI tools weekly, slightly more than men 

• Yet, only 36% of women believe GenAI will help their careers (vs. 45% of men)

Role Representation

Only 22% of AI and data professionals in the UK are women.

The General Usage Divide

• 43% of men in the UK use GenAI

• Only 28% of women have tried it

Older Women Benefit From Training

Among women aged 55+, brief training increased weekly GenAI usage from 17% to 56%.

Skills-Based Hiring = New Doors

• Job postings requiring degrees dropped 15% since 2018

• Apprenticeships, bootcamps, and micro-credentials are rising as new pathways

Soft Skills = Hidden Strength

Women list communication and creativity skills nearly 2x more than men. These "power skills" will shape the AI workforce.

Only 27% of UK women plan to enhance AI skills this year, compared to 38% of men.

As of 2025, only 21% of senior tech leadership positions are held by women—making leadership in this space disproportionately male-dominated.
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Despite modest progress at the grassroots level, women remain underrepresented in senior leadership roles across the UK’s tech sector. 

Zooming out to broader corporate roles, the picture is equally stark. Just 9.4% of FTSE 100 companies have a female CEO, while this number drops to 6.1% in the FTSE 250 and 7.3% in the FTSE 350. Among executive directors, women make up 22% in the FTSE 100, only 12% in the FTSE 250, and 15.4% in the FTSE 350. Non-executive director roles show more progress—hovering around gender parity—but real decision-making power remains elusive.

Even more telling: only 12 out of 90 FTSE 100 companies with five or more C-suite executives have reached gender parity. This imbalance shows how the pathway to the top still favors men—despite diversity pledges and public commitments.

On average, women in tech earn 16% less per hour than men—worse than the UK’s overall pay gap of 11.6%
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In tech startups and scale-ups, the problem intensifies. Women earn just 74p for every £1 earned by men, the worst gender pay gap among European tech ecosystems (UKTech.News). Across 50 major UK tech firms with over 100,000 employees, the gap remains at 17.5%, with little change year-over-year.

The imbalance extends beyond salaries. Women receive 12.9% less in bonuses, on average (Verdict). Pay quartile data paints a stark picture: women dominate the lowest quartiles (76%), but make up only 38.5% of the highest earners. At Amazon UK, women in top positions earn just 82–83p per £1 and receive 25–47% lower bonuses than male peers.

In technical roles, the pattern holds: women earn 8% less in analytics, design, and software engineering, and 4% less in project management. The issue is not just a wage gap—it’s a talent valuation gap.

While innovation flourishes in the UK, venture capital remains frustratingly unequal. In 2024, all-female founder teams received just 2% of total VC funding in the UK, a decline from 2.5% in 2023. In emerging sectors like AI, male-led startups attracted over 81% of all investment.

This funding gap has proven stubborn. In 2021, all-female teams received only 2p per £1 of equity investment, and while their share of equity deals has grown modestly—from 5% in 2011 to 9% in 2022—their funding share remains disproportionately low.

Currently, female-founded startups represent 14% of all UK startups, but receive only 6–7% of equity deals and just 2.8% of total investment value. Despite this, signs of progress are emerging.

Notably, the UK leads Europe in female-led capital, accounting for 26.8% of all VC investment into female-founded companies—a sign that with deliberate effort, transformation is possible.