Diversity in the tech industry

With the UK tech industry now worth £892.5billion (HSBC Innovation Banking and Dealroom, 2025) and employing more than two million workers (CompTIA, 2023), you'd think the future would be bright. However, there remains a lack of diversity in technology roles, particularly in gender representation in leadership positions.

Ian Bolton, academic director at TechSkills, explains how digital tech needs to focus on diversity in recruitment. 'A workforce built from the same backgrounds and perspectives will not deliver the innovation, security or growth the UK tech sector depends on,' he explains.

'Diversity and inclusion are a fundamental part of the Tech Industry Gold accreditation. By supporting accessible, work-based and lifelong learning pathways, accredited programmes open the door to a broader, more representative talent pool. That diversity of thinking is what drives better and more creative technology, stronger organisations and long-term success.'

Why does inclusion matter from a business perspective?

Global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company examined the link between a company's business success and its approach to diversity, equality, and inclusion (DE&I). They found that organisations that ensured greater workforce diversity were more likely to perform better in terms of long-term profitability.

Maria Krivesko, fractional head of marketing at Diversity in Tech, agrees that a diverse workforce drives innovation.

'Businesses around the world have seen both financial gains and improved employee satisfaction and retention from stronger diversity and inclusion practices. Research shows that companies in the top quartile for gender and ethnic diversity are significantly more likely to outperform their industry peers financially, and inclusive organisations experience lower turnover and higher engagement, making diversity a business advantage as well as a moral imperative,' explains Maria.

She adds, 'It's long overdue for any industry, and particularly the tech sector, to be equally represented across all genders, races, ages, and backgrounds. Our strength lies in diversity, and empowering professionals from every background directly benefits a company's infrastructure and innovation. Achieving this requires robust and effective DE&I strategies, fair and inclusive hiring practices, comprehensive training, and a supportive internal culture where every employee can thrive.'

What is the gender gap in technology?

'While more women are entering tech today than ever before, meaningful equity is still out of reach. Persistent gaps in leadership, pay and retention show that progress has been incremental. Lasting change requires targeted action throughout the entire career pipeline,' says Maria.

Tech Talent Charter's report on diversity and inclusion at over 700 organisations has highlighted the current gender imbalance. It revealed that less than a third of tech workers were women or non-binary.

While the results from this survey sample of 230,000 UK tech employees are considerably higher than the government's estimate of 17% for the tech industry, it's still staggering, given that half (49%) of UK workers are women.

The sector's professional body, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, also explored gender representation in tech through its Gender Diversity in the Tech Sector Report 2025. They revealed that there were 441,000 female IT specialists working in the UK in 2024, accounting for just over a fifth (22%) of the workforce.

This clear issue is compounded by Tech Nation's findings that just over a fifth (21%) of tech directors are women, and the proportion of female directors in the video game industry is less than an eighth (13%).

Recent interventions to address the gender gap in tech leadership have made some progress, but it remains modest. In scale-ups founded within the last five years, women hold around 25% of board positions, compared with just 10% in companies older than five years. While this suggests that newer companies are starting to prioritise diversity at the leadership level, the overall pace of change is still slow, and significant gaps remain across the industry.

Maria believes that one of the most common reasons for the disparity in male and female representation in the tech industry is the lack of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) education for young girls.

'Many young girls still believe maths, science, and technology are subjects for boys, and until we change these perceptions, a gender gap is still likely to be an issue,' she adds.

Read more about this issue on Diversity In Tech's sister site, Women In Tech.

With funding from the Government Equalities Office, the Gender & Behavioural Insights (GABI) research programme has recommended several evidence-based interventions to advance gender equality.

These include:

• ensuring shortlists contain more than one woman
• using blind CV screening and recruitment methods
• resolving the gender pay gap
• encouraging role models
• mentoring and reverse mentoring.

A number of leading employers have already taken action:

• Cisco's educational Women Rock-IT programme allows women to develop their skills through a series of free, online, exploratory courses.
• The EY Women in Technology programme supports girls and women in entering, remaining, thriving and leading in the world of tech through its five workstreams.
• PwC's Her Tech Talent programme provides work experience and job opportunities for female students in Year 12, as well as university students and graduates. Read about other Year 12 work experience programmes.
• Sky's 15-week online Get Into Tech course gives women of all ages the opportunity to explore a career in software development.

Is the tech industry inclusive in terms of sexual orientation?

A study by The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) found that almost a third of young LGBTQ+ people avoided careers in STEM subjects due to fears of discrimination.

As businesses look to make their working environments places where everyone feels comfortable, policies should include provisions for safeguarding LGBTQ+ workers.

The following tech companies have been praised for having diverse workforces and supporting the LGBTQ+ community:

• Amazon
• Fujitsu
• Hewlett-Packard (HP)
• Microsoft
• Sky TV

For example, HP was the first company to start an employee resource group for LGBT+ employees. In addition, Amazon scored highly on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, ranking it among the 'Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality'.

This included scoring measures for:

• workforce protection levels
• inclusive benefits
• supporting an inclusive culture
• adopting corporate social responsibility measures that include people of all sexual orientations.

What about ethnic diversity in tech?

The 2024 survey by Tech Talent Charter found that people from ethnic minority groups make up a larger share of the technology workforce (25%) than of the wider UK workforce (12%).

Despite these findings, less than a sixth (14%) of senior tech leaders are from ethnic minority groups.

This is against the backdrop of highly international leadership in the tech sector. Indeed, Tech Nation revealed that nearly a fifth (18%) of tech directors are non-British in nationality, compared to less than an eighth (13%) in other industries.

The BCS gender diversity report also showed that Black women IT specialists accounted for less than 1% of the tech workforce in 2024, at 0.6%. This is down from 0.7% in 2022, when the organisation first started tracking this figure.

To help address this, professional services company KPMG runs a Black Heritage Talent Insight Programme that offers Black students insight into the business. This initiative enables them to grow their networks, develop key skills and be considered for graduate roles.

Undergraduates with a Black heritage can also apply to BP's Future Leaders Discovery Week. This paid opportunity with the oil and gas company, which involves professional skills workshops, networking, and learning from business leaders, can lead to a fast-track interview for entry into next year's internship programme.

Are there social mobility issues in the tech industry?

BCS analysed social mobility in the IT sector through its Moving On Up report. The study found that the IT profession does present opportunities for social mobility.

Through the research, the organisation revealed that young people from less advantaged backgrounds find IT career paths more accessible than in other long-established professions such as law and medicine.

There are more entry routes into IT, and achieving the necessary qualifications and skills is far cheaper than in these other vocations.

Indeed, three-quarters (75%) of IT professionals experienced upward social mobility compared to their parents' social class, with four-fifths (80%) of IT project/programme managers experiencing a higher social mobility grade than their parents.

Business and tech consultancy firm FDM Group has proposed measures to improve social mobility across the industry, including:

• hiring people for their skills and experience rather than their educational background
• investing in upskilling programmes to make organisations more enticing
• supporting young talent through mentorship and job shadowing
• creating an inclusive environment that provides accessibility for all backgrounds
• partnering with a talent solutions provider to help support the company's goals.

Is there a disability employment gap in tech?

While a fifth (19%) of the UK working population has a disability, a report by BCS reveals that when it comes to IT specialists, this only amounts to a tenth (11%) of workers.

The BCS Diversity Report: Disability shows that an additional 88,000 IT specialists with disabilities would be needed to be representative of workplace norms.

Another BCS report on The Experience of Neurodiverse and Disabled People in IT reveals that despite an increase in the number of people reporting disabilities in the tech sector, it's clear there's still a disability employment gap to fill.

To combat this, the government has committed to increasing the number of disabled people in work to 1.2 million by 2027. Proposed measures include redesigning current schemes such as Disability Confident and Access to Work to make them less time-consuming for disabled applicants.

Other issues highlighted include ensuring recruitment processes are more accessible to disabled people and giving them the option of flexible working. It's also hoped that employers will provide specialist assistive technology and software that can help create a more inclusive work environment.

Removing these barriers to employment will encourage more disabled people into tech.

Major companies such as Microsoft are also adopting clear disability hiring practices, such as running Ability Hiring events and providing interview accommodations. The company also runs a neurodiversity programme for neurodivergent individuals.

This is welcome, as Diversity in Tech revealed that while just a third (32%) of autistic adults are in paid work, with less than a fifth (16%) in full-time paid work, over three-quarters (77%) of unemployed autistic adults have stated that they would like to work.

Read about neurodiversity in the workplace.

What is the outlook for the tech community?

One of the most encouraging trends in the UK tech sector is the active support networks and communities among tech professionals. Across industries, professionals are mentoring each other, sharing career advice, and championing inclusion, from established leaders to early-career developers.

Communities such as Women in Tech, Diversity in Tech, and numerous local and online networks provide a platform for:

• collaboration
• knowledge sharing
• visibility.

These 'loud voices' not only amplify underrepresented talent but also foster a culture of encouragement in which peers celebrate achievements, advocate for equitable opportunities, and lift each other up.

Maria explains, 'The strength of these networks demonstrates that diversity is not just a policy, it's a community effort, and the collective support of tech professionals is driving real change across the sector.'

Find out more

• Explore tech graduate schemes.
• Get an overview of the UK's IT industry.
• Discover opportunities for women in engineering.