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Tech's Shifting Ground: Women Reshaping the Economic Landscape
This is your Women in Business podcast.
Welcome back to Women in Business. Let’s get right to it, because the economic ground under the tech industry is shifting fast, and women are not just reacting to it – we are actively reshaping it.
Right now, women hold only about a quarter of tech roles in the United States, according to CompTIA and the WomenTech Network, even though women make up almost half of the overall workforce. Exploding Topics reports that women in tech still earn around 84 cents for every dollar men earn in similar roles. That pay gap becomes even more painful when you add rising living costs, unstable markets, and constant waves of layoffs in big tech. Yet in the middle of all this, women are quietly building powerful careers, companies, and ecosystems.
One big conversation for this moment is women building economic resilience inside tech. Think about women software developers, data scientists, and product managers who are learning to treat their skills like assets, not just job titles. CompTIA’s State of the Tech Workforce notes that women are especially visible in roles like data science, where nearly half of workers are women. That is a space where tech meets strategy and money, and women are using it to negotiate better salaries, remote flexibility, and equity packages that can build long‑term wealth.
Another key discussion is the reality of layoffs and instability. The WomenTech Network found that women have been more likely to be laid off in recent tech downturns. That sounds discouraging, but here is the twist: many of those laid‑off women are becoming founders, consultants, and fractional executives. When you look at the startup ecosystems in places like Silicon Valley, Austin, London, and Nairobi, you see women launching AI consultancies, fintech apps, and cybersecurity boutiques. They are moving from being at risk in someone else’s org chart to owning their own revenue streams.
We also need to talk about access to capital. Exploding Topics highlights that around two‑thirds of female entrepreneurs report serious challenges getting funding. At the same time, venture reports from firms like PitchBook show women‑founded companies still receive only a small single‑digit slice of total venture capital. Yet communities such as All Raise in the United States and Female Founders in Europe are training women to pitch stronger, negotiate term sheets, and look beyond traditional venture capital to revenue‑based financing, angel syndicates, and crowdfunding.
A fourth powerful angle is leadership and decision‑making. AIPRM’s analysis of global tech data points out that only about 14 percent of global tech leaders are women. That means in boardrooms deciding on layoffs, AI ethics, hiring freezes, and pay bands, women are still underrepresented. But when women do sit at those tables, they bring different priorities: inclusive hiring, parental leave that actually works, and investment in upskilling programs for women at mid‑career. Those decisions can change how thousands of women experience the next economic shock.
Finally, there is the future pipeline. From McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace research to STEM graduation data, one thing is clear: girls and young women are entering tech, but too many drop out mid‑career. Mentorship programs, sponsorship inside companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple, and networks such as Women Who Code and Girls Who Code are trying to reverse that trend. The economic landscape may be uncertain, but every time a woman stays in tech long enough to reach senior engineer, director, or founder, she changes the math for everyone coming behind her.
Listeners, as you navigate this economy, remember: your skills are assets, your network is capital, and your voice in tech is part of a much larger economic story.
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Published on 5 days, 12 hours ago