European tech business needs more women

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 23/06/2025

The share of women in the European workforce is lowest in the tech roles that are growing fastest, such as DevOps and cloud. The European Union has  a tech talent gap of 1.4 million to 3.9 million people by 2027. If Europe could double the share of women in the tech workforce to about 45%, or an estimated 3.9 million additional women by 2027 it could close this talent gap and benefit from a GDP increase of as much as €260 billion to €600 billion. 

These are conclusions in a report by consultancy McKinsey on International Women’s moonDay that is celebrated annually on June 23.

“European leaders looking to build competitive advantage and growth by addressing their technology gap should consider one fact: women occupy only 22% of all tech roles across European companies.” 

“The current representation of women in tech is particularly concerning because the very roles where women have the lowest share are exactly those that will have the highest demand and impact in coming years.” 

The report says that while 19% of people in the software engineering and architecture functions overall are women, they are only 10% of the cloud solution architects and 13% of the Python developers, two roles with the highest demand in the job market. 

“Even as a new generation of advanced technologies—from low-code/no-code solutions to generative AI—becomes more common, we anticipate there will continue to be an important need for skilled engineers and developers to not just enhance and maintain those technologies but also develop the next generation of technologies (for example, quantum, Web3, and trust architectures).”

Key findings from the report:

• A significant drop in the percentage of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) classes happens at two points: during the transition from primary and secondary education to university, when it drops 18 percentage points, and during the transition from university to the workforce, when it drops another 15.
• While the rate of women working within tech companies (such as social networks) is closer to parity, the rate of women working within tech roles (such as developers and data engineers) is much lower.
• Women’s graduation rate in STEM disciplines during higher education is declining.
• The share of women in the workforce is lowest in the tech roles that are growing fastest, such as DevOps and cloud. At current rates, the share of women in tech roles in Europe is heading toward a decline to 21 percent by 2027.

The report says four interventions can have a significant impact:

• Redressing bias in the workforce. Companies should start with a comprehensive plan that actively addresses the pain points and needs of women. Some 70 percent of women in tech, in fact, still feel like they need to work harder and prove themselves because of their gender. 
• Improving retention rates. Over half of women in tech leave the industry by the midpoint of their career—more than double the rate of men—resulting in many fewer women reaching leadership roles.16 By improving the retention of women, European businesses could increase the number of women in tech by 370,000 to 440,000.
• Reskilling women into tech roles. Companies can increase the number of women in tech roles by as much as 530,000 to 1.8 million by 2027 through a range of practices. These include hiring women from untapped pools, training them in modern technologies (such as agile and MLOps), and building up their tech skills.
• Bolstering girls in STEM classes earlier in their educational process. programs supporting women already in university STEM classes can have the most impact. Providing more and better internship opportunities, mentoring and coaching women as they prepare to enter the workforce, and actively recruiting women to work on cutting-edge projects in leadership roles, among other programs, can help increase graduation rates for women in STEM and increase their overall numbers in tech by about 225,000–695,000.