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Tech's Tangled Climb: Navigating the Ladder as a Woman in Silicon Valley
This is your Women in Business podcast.
Welcome to Women in Business, the podcast spotlighting the stories, challenges, and triumphs of women making waves in today’s economic landscape. Today, we’re taking a closer look at women in the tech industry, where progress is palpable but so are persistent barriers.
If you’re tuning in as a woman in tech, you already know the numbers rarely tell the whole story, but they do set the stage. Even as global tech companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft reach new heights, women make up just about a third of their overall workforce, and less than a quarter of all technical roles. In fact, Amazon employs the highest proportion of women at 45%, while Microsoft trails with only about 29% in the tech workforce. Only about 17% of tech companies have a woman as CEO, meaning leadership remains elusive for most.
So how do women navigate, persist, and thrive in this landscape? I want to dig into five key realities shaping their journey.
First, there’s the broken rung. As you climb the ladder in tech, the gender gap widens, especially at senior levels. At entry, you’ll find more women in roles like software engineering or UI/UX design. But as you look at mid-level and senior positions, the numbers nosedive and opportunities for advancement dwindle. The infamous broken rung means fewer women get promoted early, which means even fewer make it to the top. This lack of visibility feeds a cycle, deterring new talent from aspiring to these roles.
Next is the tech hiring disparity. Women account for around 32% of new technical hires in the US in 2025, a slight improvement, but still a distance from parity. Many companies tout diversity initiatives, yet women are more likely to be concentrated in HR, marketing, and operations rather than engineering, IT, or development. The talent pipeline is strong, with more women graduating in computer science than ever before, but retention is a real headache—over half of women in tech quit by age 35, often citing poor culture and limited advancement.
Now, let’s talk about layoffs and burnout. The past two years have been especially tough, with women 1.6 times more likely to face layoffs. In a single round of layoffs in 2022, 69% of those let go in tech were women. Burnout is a recurring theme, with 57% of women in tech reporting they feel constantly stretched, compared to 36% of men. This gap is partly because women are often tasked with invisible work or face heavier expectations to balance career and home life.
It’s essential to discuss leadership and representation. Despite powerhouse figures like Susan Wojcicki at YouTube and Reshma Saujani of Girls Who Code, statistics stubbornly show only 8–9% of women hold technical leadership roles such as CTO or IT manager. Fewer women in charge means fewer role models, slower culture change, and more biased outcomes—especially in fast-evolving areas like AI, where less than a third of the workforce is female.
Finally, the road ahead: change is possible with intentional design. Companies embracing flexible work arrangements, mentorship programs, and robust DEI initiatives see women advancing to managerial roles up to 45%. Inclusive environments matter. As Boston Consulting Group’s recent study noted, women are already more likely than men to be hands-on with generative AI tools, hinting at new possibilities if the doors are truly opened.
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Published on 3 weeks ago