Women in tech statistics 2026: the representation gap driving pay inequity

Women's underrepresentation in tech, particularly at leadership levels, is the primary driver of pay equity issues in the tech industry.

With fewer women in senior, higher-paying roles, the overall earnings gap between men and women widens – creating the 20% unadjusted gender pay gap that persists across the industry in 2026.

For HR and Reward Leaders, this presents both a practical and compliance challenge.

Pay equity has always been foundational to the function – ensuring fair, consistent compensation decisions across the organisation.

But it’s now a compliance issue too. With the EU Pay Transparency Directive now in force, representation moves from being just a diversity metric to a regulatory risk.

Let’s take a look at the latest Ravio data on the representation of women in tech, to see where women stand in the workforce and leadership in 2026, why representation remains persistently low, and what's driving the barriers that keep women from reaching senior roles.

What is the representation of women in tech in 2026?

Women make up 36% of the European tech workforce in 2026 (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

That's down from 38% in 2025 and 41% in 2024.

Year-to-year changes like this are within the range of normal fluctuation, so they don't necessarily signal a downward trend – but representation certainly isn't improving.

The representation of women in the workforce (and, as we’ll see, especially at senior levels) is one of the key drivers of the gender pay gap in European tech – if we don’t tackle the representation problem, we can’t tackle pay inequity.

What proportion of tech leadership are women in 2026?

Women hold just 22% of executive roles in European tech, and 36% of management roles – compared with 40% of professional (individual contributor) roles (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

This leadership gap is where representation becomes a structural pay equity problem.

Executive positions naturally command significantly higher salaries than lower-level roles, so having more than three times as many men as women in these positions creates a substantial earnings imbalance between genders overall.

Even when companies pay men and women equitably for the same role at the same level, the sheer concentration of men in senior, higher-paying positions drives the unadjusted gender pay gap.

That's exactly what Ravio's data shows: the adjusted gender pay gap (comparing like-for-like roles) is just 1%, while the unadjusted gap is 20%.

Women by pay quartile

The same pattern shows up when you split the workforce into four equal-sized pay bands.

Women make up 48% of the lowest-paid quarter of the European tech workforce, but just 25% of the highest-paid quarter (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Pay quartiles are one of the measures the EU Pay Transparency Directive requires companies to report, so this is worth checking in your own data. Sweden is the one market that breaks the pattern – its top quartile (28% women) is actually more balanced than its third (23%).

How does the representation of women in tech vary across Europe?

Representation of women ranges from 34% in Germany and the Netherlands to 41% in the UK (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden saw the sharpest dips this year (4-6 percentage points), while the UK and France held steady.

How does the representation of women in tech vary by function?

People (69%) and Marketing (55%) remain the functions with the highest representation of women. Engineering has the lowest, at 19% – and Sales saw the sharpest drop this year, from 42% to 33% (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Because Engineering is also one of the highest-paying functions, its low representation has an outsized effect on the overall pay gap.

Why is female representation in the tech industry still so low?

When we asked People and Reward Leaders what drives their own gender pay gap, the most common answer was underrepresentation of women in senior and leadership roles (36%), followed by underrepresentation in higher-paying functions like Engineering (26%).

Yet 44% took no specific action on their gender pay gap in the last 12 months – and just 8% changed promotion or hiring practices to address representation (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Three interconnected barriers keep women underrepresented in tech, particularly at senior levels:

1. The pipeline problem that starts before women even enter the industry
2. Hiring practices that introduce inequality from day one
3. Workplace cultures that make it difficult for women to progress into leadership roles.

1. The talent pipeline problem starts before employment

Tech has historically been a male-dominated sector, creating a cycle where limited role models discourage women from pursuing tech careers.

Women are typically underrepresented in tech education pathways and university courses well before they enter the workforce – by the time companies are recruiting, the talent pool is already skewed, making diverse hiring extremely difficult even for organisations committed to gender balance.

How can tech organisations improve the gender diversity of their talent pipeline?

• Partner with organisations like Women in Tech that work to improve visibility and accessibility of tech careers for women
• Offer internships, apprenticeships, and mentoring programmes specifically targeting women in STEM education
• Send female employees to speak at schools, universities, and career events to provide visible role models
• Support coding bootcamps and career-switching programmes that help women transition into tech from other industries.

2. Hiring practices introduce inequality at point of entry

How roles are written and filled can shape who applies – and who gets hired. Andreea Lupu, Compensation & Benefits Architect at Meaningful, sees it start with the job posting itself.

"Job postings are sometimes set towards a male profile without companies realising it," she says. "And as women, we're often more prone to waiting to be seen than to ask – which stops us from moving into senior roles, even when we're ready for them."

Unconscious bias in hiring can introduce pay disparities through several mechanisms: systematically lower salary offers to female candidates, negotiation dynamics that disadvantage women, and recruitment practices that rely heavily on male-dominated networks rather than broadening the candidate pool.

How can tech organisations improve hiring practices for gender diversity?

• Implement policies requiring diverse candidate pools for every role, particularly senior positions
• Use reliable benchmarking data to make objective compensation decisions, to eliminate bias in salary offers
• Remove questions about salary history from the interview process – using past salaries to set new offers only perpetuates existing gaps (and under the EU Pay Transparency Directive, it's no longer allowed)
• Train hiring managers on unconscious bias and ensure diverse interview panels
• Broaden recruitment beyond existing networks by posting roles on platforms specifically targeting women in tech.

3. Male-dominated culture limits progression to leadership

Even when women enter tech companies in reasonable numbers, many struggle to progress into senior positions.

Male-dominated workplace cultures can make it difficult for women to visualise themselves in leadership roles when there are so few female executives to look up to.

This challenge is compounded by the reality that women still shoulder disproportionate caregiving responsibilities.

Research shows that mothers are much more likely than fathers to reduce working hours or withdraw from full-time employment after having children. When senior roles lack flexibility and require intense time commitments that conflict with caregiving, women face an impossible choice between career progression and family responsibilities.

The step into management is a particular pinch point. In Ravio's data, the gender pay gap is widest at M2 (Manager) level, at 15% – so it's worth paying close attention to how first-time manager promotions are decided.

How can tech organisations support women in leadership?

• Hire and promote female leaders deliberately – implement hiring policies that prioritise diverse leadership candidates
• Ensure senior roles offer genuine flexibility, not just token remote working options
• Provide equal parental leave for all genders and actively encourage men to take it, normalising caregiving as a shared responsibility
• Create sponsorship programmes where senior leaders actively advocate for high-potential women's advancement
• Address toxic workplace behaviours quickly – take reports of discrimination or harassment seriously and implement preventative policies.

Budget alone won't fix it – there’s real, structural work to be done.

"Adding a bit more money to the salary increase budget is an easy box to tick," says Liis Reitz, Compensation Specialist at SMG Swiss Marketplace Group. "Building real representation takes much more work – rethinking hiring strategies, writing more inclusive job descriptions, training recruiters and managers, and looking at where women are dropping out of the process."

FAQs

How many women are in tech?

Women make up 36% of the European tech workforce, according to Ravio's 2027 Compensation Trends report. However, this representation drops significantly at senior levels, with women holding just 22% of executive positions across European tech.

What proportion of tech leaders are female?

Women hold 22% of executive roles and 36% of management roles in European tech, according to Ravio's 2027 Compensation Trends report. The significant gap between overall workforce representation (36%) and leadership representation (22%) demonstrates the "leaky pipeline" challenge facing the industry.

What percentage of software engineers are women?

Women make up 19% of the Engineering function in European tech in 2026 – the lowest of any function, and largely unchanged from 20% in 2024 and 2025 (Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Why are there fewer women in tech?

Women are underrepresented in tech due to three main factors: limited exposure to tech careers and role models during education, hiring practices that introduce pay and representation gaps from day one, and male-dominated workplace cultures that make it difficult for women to progress into senior positions.

How can we attract more women in tech?

To attract more women into tech, companies should partner with organisations that promote tech careers to women, offer mentoring and internship programmes targeting women in STEM, ensure diverse candidate pools for all roles, use objective compensation frameworks to eliminate hiring bias, and provide visible female role models throughout the organisation.

Why do we need more women in tech?

Improving women's representation in tech is essential for closing the gender pay gap, meeting regulatory requirements like the EU Pay Transparency Directive, and ensuring fair compensation practices. Women's underrepresentation, particularly in leadership, is the primary driver of pay inequity in the industry.

How can we support women in tech?

Companies can support women in tech by ensuring genuine flexibility at all levels (not just junior roles), providing equal parental leave and encouraging all genders to take it, creating sponsorship programmes where senior leaders advocate for women's advancement, and addressing discriminatory workplace behaviours quickly with clear policies.