Fewer women in European tech
The share of women graduating from European tech degree programs has seen a small uptick since 2022 rising to 33% of bachelor’s degrees and 39% of PhD graduates but women in the tech workforce has fallen by 20 percentage points with the share of women in tech roles falling to 19%, according to consultancy McKinsey. “Companies that take a holistic approach to embedding gender-inclusive strategies and tangible actions at the team, individual, and organizational levels can address the AI talent shortage and the diversity gap simultaneously.”
Just 13% in tech management roles are women and only 8% in senior management roles (such as director and C-level) are women, according to the company’s data.
Actions suggested:
- Reculture
Culture is the strongest predictor of whether women stay in tech and advance. Companies that implement a range of tangible actions across the organization could enhance the work environment for women. Approaches include providing more transparency into representation goals for women in technical and leadership roles, reviewing progress quarterly, and tying outcomes to executive KPIs.
- Realign skills
Europe has an opportunity to turn disruption into inclusion by investing in AI-driven reskilling as a new on-ramp for women in tech. One way to bring more women into tech could be to enable women to transition directly into the roles of the future, bypassing the shrinking entry-level layer. In tandem, companies could seek to build on AI-threatened tech roles that are currently held by women, such as in product and design.
3. Reimagine operations
Cultural intentions and skill-building efforts must be combined with operating models that support women’s advancement. A more inclusive operating model should seek to embed fairness, transparency, and accountability directly into how tech organizations run—alleviating friction points that disproportionately affect women. To remove obstacles to career progression, companies could adjust benefits and support programs to ensure that employees are assessed based solely on their performance. Similarly, by enhancing parental leave and standardizing return-to-work frameworks for all employees—phased return, shared parental leave, and structured reentry plans—organizations can avoid penalizing women accessing these benefits.
The company says research shows that women in entry-level jobs in product development and software engineering saw the largest declines from 2024 to 2025, at 17 and 13% respectively. AI, data, and analytics is the sole job family with rising entry-level demand (up 11% for men and 7% for women).
“However, men capture a larger share of this growth, limiting women’s participation in the one expanding early-career pathway. One senior leader we interviewed explained, “We used to tell women, ‘Come to tech—it’s full of opportunity.’ Now, I’m not sure that’s true.”
“Across European tech, women’s representation declines sharply with seniority across all five major job families. While women account for meaningful numbers in some entry-level roles—they hold more than half of such roles in design and have strong representation in product management—their share drops at every subsequent career step.”
“The steepest losses occur early: Between entry-level and first managerial roles, women’s representation falls by seven to 18 percentage points, depending on job family.”
“These early losses compound the gender gap at the leadership level. Even in AI, data, and analytics—the only job family showing entry-level growth—representation drops by 16 percentage points between entry and C-level, with a particularly sharp drop at midcareer leadership transitions.”
“In the AI era, this attrition is especially concerning. Leadership roles in data, product, and engineering increasingly shape how AI systems are built and governed. When women exit early from these pathways—and from the sector altogether—the result is a narrowing of perspectives at precisely the levels at which bias, accountability, and societal impact must be addressed.”
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