Breaking the Code: Women Rewriting Tech's Rules

This is your Women in Business podcast. Welcome back to Women in Business. Today, we’re diving into a hot topic: how women are navigating the shifting economic landscape, especially in the tech industry—a field driving the future and rewriting the rules as we go. Let’s start with the numbers, because data always sets the stage. Globally, less than thirty percent of tech roles are currently held by women. In leadership, that number shrinks even further—women hold fewer than one in five tech leadership positions worldwide, according to sources like the Nash Squared Digital Leadership Report and the Stanford AI Index. Even in the U.S., where awareness is higher, only about a quarter of those shaping our digital world are women. And for women of color, those numbers are even lower. The first key discussion for today: the opportunity and cost of underrepresentation. When women aren’t at the table, companies miss out—McKinsey estimates closing the gender gap could add up to 12 trillion dollars to global GDP by 2025. We aren’t just fighting for a seat; we’re fighting for the growth and innovation that diversity unlocks. Second, let’s spotlight the unique barriers women face in tech. Pay gaps stubbornly persist. Women who break into the industry struggle to advance—many citing sparse mentorship, especially around mid-career, as detailed by the Women in Digital Report for Australia. In many regions, women report stalling at middle management, not due to lack of ambition, but because the support structures just aren’t there or are not flexible enough for caregivers. The so-called “missing middle” is a global phenomenon costing companies dearly. Third, there’s a bright spark: the surge in women-led startups and the rise of role models breaking barriers in venture capital and product development. Take women like Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, who’s changing the conversation from fixing women to fixing workplaces. And cities like Little Rock, Arkansas, and Columbia, South Carolina, are now emerging centers of opportunity, even outpacing the likes of Silicon Valley in female wage growth and representation. Location, it turns out, is part of the equation for progress. The fourth theme you’ll want to discuss is the double-edged sword of AI and automation. Artificial intelligence is transforming tech at lightning speed, with seventy-five percent of companies set to increase AI adoption by 2028. Yet, most women in tech aren’t yet using AI at work and risk being left further behind unless upskilling, as flagged in the Skillsoft ‘Women in Tech’ Report, becomes a priority. The opportunity? Early adopters are already reporting boosts in productivity and streamlined workflows—so how can we ensure women have equal access to these powerful tools? Our final key discussion for this episode is the rise of networks, data transparency, and policy action. More organizations are collaborating to measure and close gender gaps, sharing data, benchmarking progre This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.