33+ Must-Know Women In Tech Statistics for 2024

by Komron Rahmonbek

SEO Manager

StrongDM

11 min read

Last updated on: July 18, 2024

Found in: Security

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We constantly hear about the gender gap in technology. Whether it’s the shortage of female founders and CEOs, claims of discrimination, or the comparatively small number of women in computer science majors, it seems that the issue has become a regular feature story in the news cycle. Disagreement over how to respond abounds on social media, in editorials, and not infrequently within tech companies themselves.

Looking at the available data can bring clarity to the issue. Some women in technology statistics might surprise you. For example, how many people are aware that the percentage of women in computer science majors was higher during the 1980s than it is today? Or that, today, as operations research analysts, women are slightly overrepresented?

Some of the most compelling research is around the overall skills shortage in the tech industry. For example, today and in coming years, there are and will be a vast number of technical job vacancies. Simply reducing female attrition from the field could help fill many of these roles.

Easy Women in Tech Statistics Finder

Women in tech overview statistics

1. The latest data puts the percentage of the technology workforce identifying as female at 27.6%.

2. Roughly 17% of technology companies currently have a woman serving as CEO.

3. A 2022 survey found that a staggering 91.88% of software developers are men.

4. Women in tech are most numerous in the role of operations research analyst, with 51% representation, according to one survey.

5. Black and Latinx women in tech are represented at 2.2% and 1.9%, respectively.

Hiring, jobs & pay statistics

6. A survey released this year found that 36% of technical recruiters believe DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) is a significant issue in the tech industry.

7. 97.8% of tech companies provide managers with some type of education on eliminating bias from management and performance processes.

8. 53% of women report that they believe it is harder for women to gain senior-level promotions at tech companies.

9. Last year, female CEOs at tech startups earned $20,000 less ($133k vs. $153k) than males in these roles.

10. Companies offer men higher salaries than women for 62% of jobs in technology, according to one survey.

11. Computer science has one of the slimmest pay gaps between males and females, with women earning 94% of what men do.

12. As of 2022, women in tech are promoted at a somewhat higher rate than men: 15.9% vs. 13.6%.

Attrition statistics: why do women leave tech?

13. 50% of women who enter the technology field abandon it by the age of 35.

14. 31% of women who leave tech cite dissatisfaction with their job as the reason.

15. 57% of women in technology reported feeling burned out at work, compared to 36% of men.

16. 78% of women in tech report feeling like they must work harder than male coworkers to prove themselves.

17. In the ongoing wave of layoffs in the tech industry, women have been 65% more likely than men to lose their jobs.

18. A study from late 2022 found that one in five women working at U.S. tech companies reported experiencing verbal or sexual harassment.

Education and training statistics

19. In the U.S., 20% of computer science undergraduate degrees go to women.

20. The percentage of bachelors degrees in computer science fell from 29% in 1995 to 18% in 2018.

21. 63% of women who majored in computer science were unsatisfied with the gender balance in their classes.

22. Female high school students account for 34% of AP Computer Science Principles classes.

23. In just a decade, Harvey Mudd College managed to increase its percentage of female computer science majors from 10% to 55% (49% when joint majors are included).

24. Twice as many male teenagers report an interest in learning computer science vs. female teenagers.

Efforts to achieve parity statistics

25. 51% of tech industry CEOs believe that D&I (diversity and inclusion) initiatives are ineffective.

26. 89.6% of tech companies track promotion outcomes by gender.

27. 77.1% of tech companies implement formal processes to hold leaders accountable to DEI goals.

28. Girls Who Code alumni choose computer science majors at 7X the national average.

Women and the tech skills shortage statistics

29. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects computer science research jobs will grow 19% by 2026.

30. In 2022, 70% of organizations worldwide reported experiencing a tech skills shortage.

31. The skills shortage is the number one barrier to adoption of emerging technologies, according to IT executives.

32. There are over 800,000 unfilled jobs in computing in the U.S. today.

33. The US will need to fill nearly 3.5 million STEM jobs by 2025, including over 1 million in computing.

34. From 2016 to 2022, the technology industry has shown the biggest increase in the hiring rate for women into leadership.

Women in Tech Overview Statistics

A number of events have shaken up the tech world, with spillover effects on women in tech, specifically. The recent wave of layoffs in the tech sector is disproportionately impacting women. Before that, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in big gains for some tech companies, but also hiring freezes and adjustments to remote work arrangements.

While remote work granted women the welcome freedom to work from home, a high number actually reported feeling burned out during the pandemic, and the number of women in tech declined from 2020 to 2021. As of now, the number of women in the industry is modestly on the rise again.

The latest data puts the percentage of the technology workforce identifying as female at 27.6%.

This represents a small rebound (0.9%) from the 26.7% measured in 2021. That year saw a 2.1% decline in female representation overall from the prior year, attributed largely to COVID-19 disruptions. [1]

Roughly 17% of technology companies currently have a woman serving as CEO.

For the role of chief technology officer, female representation drops to 8%. Also, just 11% of founding teams at tech companies are at least half female or non-binary identified. [1]

Female representation at the largest tech companies in the U.S. is 33%.

Of the Big Five (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, or GAFAM), Amazon employs the highest number of women at 45%, while Microsoft employs the fewest at 29%. None report a percentage of women in technology roles over 25%. [2], [3]

A 2022 survey found that a staggering 91.88% of software developers are men.

Just 5.17% of survey respondents identified as female, with most of the remainder reporting a non-conforming gender identity or declining to specify. [4]

Women in tech are most numerous in the role of operations research analyst, with 51% representation, according to one survey.

The survey, which looked at gender representation from 2000 to 2021 found that women were least numerous in hardware engineering, with just 13.4% representation. [5]

Black and Latinx women in tech are represented at 2.2% and 1.9%, respectively.

This is one of a number of patterns of underrepresentation or overrepresentation in tech along gender or ethnic lines. For example, Asian individuals are overrepresented at 20% of the tech workforce and also earn more than all other groups. [1], [9]

Hiring, Jobs & Pay Statistics

Differences in salaries for men and women are apparent up to the CEO level. Meanwhile, women are gaining promotions at a slightly higher rate than men as of late. Male and female employees at tech companies are sometimes divided in their opinions on gender discrimination in hiring and promotions.

A survey released this year found that 36% of technical recruiters believe DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) is a significant issue in the tech industry.

However, views on DEI appear to vary among technical recruiters. For example, the same survey found that 22.8% of recruiters do not believe a lack of diversity is an issue in technical recruiting. Also, mitigating bias ranked last on respondents’ list of the 12 biggest challenges involved in hiring developers. [6]

97.8% of tech companies provide managers with some type of education on eliminating bias from management and performance processes.

A somewhat lower percentage (73.3%) offer a formal training program on eliminating bias; these organizations have 1.4X more women at the executive level. [1]

53% of women report that they believe it is harder for women to gain senior-level promotions at tech companies.

The same study found that 30% of male employees do not believe it is harder for women to gain promotions to senior-level roles at technology companies. [7]

Last year, female CEOs at tech startups earned $20,000 less ($133k vs. $153k) than males in these roles.

This finding comes from a 2022 study analyzing venture-funded startups in areas including edtech, fintech, biotech, eCommerce, healthtech, hardware, SaaS, and others. [8]

Companies offer men higher salaries than women for 62% of jobs in technology, according to one survey.

Salary offers for DevOps roles are, on average, 5% lower for women vs. men. Interestingly, salary offers for product management roles are, on average, 0.4% higher for women vs. men, according to the 2022 survey from Hired. [9]

Computer science has one of the slimmest pay gaps between males and females, with women earning 94% of what men do.

This contrasts with other professions where, on average, women earn 83% (83 cents on the dollar) of what men earn. [21]

As of 2022, women in tech are promoted at a somewhat higher rate than men: 15.9% vs. 13.6%.

This is coupled with an overall increase (0.9%) of women in tech between 2021 and 2022. [1]

Attrition Statistics: Why Do Women Leave Tech?

Women abandon tech at a much higher rate than men. When asked why, their answers range from dissatisfaction with their job role to interest in a different field. A significant number of women also report experiencing discriminatory behavior at work.

50% of women who enter the technology field abandon it by the age of 35.

Overall, women decide to leave their tech careers at a 45% higher rate than men do, according to a study from Girls Who Code and Accenture. [10]

31% of women who leave tech cite dissatisfaction with their job as the reason.

Another 22% of women who leave tech note attraction to a different field as the reason for their departure. [10]

57% of women in technology reported feeling burned out at work, compared to 36% of men.

This statistic comes from a 2021 survey by TrustRadius. The survey also found that 42% of women performed more household work during the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to 11% of men. Also, 43% of women reported taking on increased responsibilities in their tech jobs since the start of the pandemic, compared to 33% of men. [11]

78% of women in tech report feeling like they must work harder than male coworkers to prove themselves.

This figure comes from a 2021 study of women in tech. An older study from December 2018 found that 33% of women in technology have considered changing careers because of male colleagues. [11], [14]

In the ongoing wave of layoffs in the tech industry, women have been 65% more likely than men to lose their jobs.

A recent study from Eightfold.ai examined the demographics of those hit hardest. Interestingly, in addition to an overrepresentation of women cut from their jobs, the study also found that employees with 10 to 15 years of work experience made up 25% of layoffs, while those with fewer than five years experience made up just 15%. [12]

A study from late 2022 found that one in five women working at U.S. tech companies reported experiencing verbal or sexual harassment.

Study participants in India and the U.K. reported microaggressions or harassment at similar rates. However, a large number of respondents (51% in the U.K.; 42% in India; 57% in the U.S.) stated that the number of male allies in the workplace had increased in the past five years. [13]

The Pipeline: Education and Training Statistics

The gender gap in tech stretches at least as far back as highschool. Twice as many teenage boys express an interest in learning computer science as do teenage girls. Efforts to promote greater parity are ongoing at college and pre-college stages. For example, Harvey Mudd College achieved near equal gender representation in its computer science major by altering course design.

In the U.S., 20% of computer science undergraduate degrees go to women.

Women are similarly underrepresented in engineering at U.S. universities, earning 22% of engineering undergraduate degrees. [15]

The percentage of bachelors degrees in computer science fell from 29% in 1995 to 18% in 2018.

The figure appears to be modestly rising again, with today’s number at 20%. [15], [17]

63% of women who majored in computer science were unsatisfied with the gender balance in their classes.

This is based on answers from 200 adult women who work in tech reported in a survey by Girls Who Code and Logitech. [23]

Female high school students account for 34% of AP Computer Science Principles classes.

The percentage of female students falls to 25% for AP Computer Science A, which offers college credit. [18]

In just a decade, Harvey Mudd College managed to increase its percentage of female computer science majors from 10% to 55% (49% when joint majors are included).

One way the college achieved the increase is by altering the way it teaches CS to pique interest among both genders. This involved courses based on graphics, puzzles, and general interest issues such as DNA and evolution. [16]

Twice as many male teenagers report an interest in learning computer science vs. female teenagers.

According to a 2022 survey of male and female students in grades 7-12, 25% of females are interested in learning computer science, while 50% of male students are interested in the subject. [22]

Efforts to Achieve Parity Statistics

Efforts to close the tech gender gap span from early education to hiring and promotion. Opinions on the effectiveness of these initiatives vary, with greater support among employees at tech companies vs. CEOs.

51% of tech industry CEOs believe that D&I (diversity and inclusion) initiatives are ineffective.

Meanwhile, a higher percentage (61%) of tech employees believe D&I initiatives have the potential to be effective. [19]

89.6% of tech companies track promotion outcomes by gender.

Companies that engage in this type of tracking have 1.3X more women at the executive level. [1]

77.1% of tech companies implement formal processes to hold leaders accountable to DEI goals.

Companies that provide formal training to eliminate bias in the performance management process have 1.4X more female executives. [1]

Girls Who Code alumni choose computer science majors at 7X the national average.

Girls Who Code is an international early education and mentorship organization trying to close the gender gap in tech. [23]

Looking Ahead: Women and the Tech Skills Shortage Statistics

Few tech leaders can afford to ignore the skills shortage. Jobs for highly skilled computing professionals keep growing, while companies compete ever more fiercely for the talent to fill them. Some pundits have even alleged that the recent tech layoffs are a play by company heads to boost their salary bargaining power against sought-after developers and engineers. Increasing the number of females in tech would help fill jobs and close the skills gap.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects computer science research jobs will grow 19% by 2026.

Filling these jobs will become increasingly challenging in the coming years. [15], [20]

In 2022, 70% of organizations worldwide reported experiencing a tech skills shortage.

Not only do companies struggle to recruit, they also have trouble holding on to the talent they do have. On average, tech leaders lose 11% of their teams yearly, often due to technologists seeking higher salaries. [24]

The skills shortage is the number one barrier to adoption of emerging technologies, according to IT executives.

Executives in a Gartner survey ranked talent shortage over both cost and security risk. [25]

There are over 800,000 unfilled jobs in computing in the U.S. today.

This figure comes from a 2022 study by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). [27]

The US will need to fill nearly 3.5 million STEM jobs by 2025, including over 1 million in computing.

Experts anticipate that 2 million of these jobs may be unfillable for lack of talent. Meanwhile, reducing female attrition in technology, engineering, and science by 25% would add 220,000 workers to the talent pool. [28], [29]

From 2016 to 2022, the technology industry has shown the biggest increase in the hiring rate for women into leadership.

This is according to the World Economic Forum’s 2022 Global Gender Gap report. [26]

Conclusion

The number of women in tech today remains relatively low. However, there have been some increases lately—in the overall number of women in tech, and in female promotions, for example.

Post-pandemic, we are entering a period where a mix of factors will play out to influence how gender representation in tech will look ten years from now. They include remote work, which most companies now offer as a permanent option, and economic factors making venture capital harder to secure. Time will tell how these, and no doubt other unforeseen events, impact female representation in technology going forward.

StrongDM started as a women-led startup, and it’s part of our culture to keep our workforce diverse and inclusive. If you want to join a company that strives to empower people by respecting and appreciating what makes them different, check out our careers page.

References

About the Author

Komron Rahmonbek, SEO Manager, has been managing SEO initiatives for companies and clients from different industries for more than five years. Evangelizing SEO within organizations and educating other team members on the best practices is his passion. Komron occasionally shares his expertise on various blogs and publications. To contact Komron, visit him on LinkedIn.

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