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Tech's Tilt: Navigating the Uneven Landscape for Women in Business
This is your Women in Business podcast.
Welcome back to Women in Business. Today we are diving straight into how women are navigating the current economic landscape in the tech industry, and what that really means for your career, your paycheck, and your power.
Right now, most reports, including data compiled by CompTIA and AIPRM, show that women hold only about a quarter of tech roles in the United States, roughly 27 percent, and less than a third globally. At the same time, McKinsey and Company notes that women make up about half of entry‑level corporate roles overall. That means the pipeline is not the problem; the leak is. In real terms, women are getting in the door, but they are not consistently getting the promotions, equity, or leadership seats that shape the future of companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.
Layer on the current economy: slower growth, waves of layoffs, and an intense focus on profitability. The WomenTech Network reports that recent tech layoffs have hit women disproportionately hard, with women more likely to be laid off because they have less seniority and are underrepresented in decision‑making roles. In a downturn, power protects power. So one of our first big questions today is: how do women in tech build economic resilience when the system is structurally tilted against them?
A crucial piece is pay and equity. Analysis from AIPRM and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that women in tech still earn roughly 15 to 20 percent less than men in similar roles. That gap compounds over time through bonuses, stock options, and retirement savings. If you work at a company like Meta or Salesforce, your base salary is only part of the story; equity can be life‑changing. So we have to talk about negotiation, transparency, and the courage to ask: what does this role pay other people at my level?
Then there is leadership. Nash Squared’s Digital Leadership Report finds that only about 14 percent of global tech leaders are women. WomenTech Network adds that only about a quarter of C‑suite roles in tech are held by women, and just a sliver of those are women of color. That leads to our next conversation: how do women push for advancement in a market where promotions have slowed, but the expectations have not? What does sponsorship look like at companies like Netflix or Adobe when budgets are tight? And how do you measure whether your current path will realistically get you to director, vice president, or founder status?
Another powerful shift is happening in where women are choosing to play in tech. CompTIA data shows that women are relatively better represented in roles like data science and systems analysis than in areas like hardware engineering or cybersecurity. In today’s economy, skills in artificial intelligence, cloud, and data are commanding the highest salaries and best job security. So a key question becomes: how can women use upskilling and strategic career moves to ride the strongest economic waves, instead of treading water in shrinking segments of the industry?
Finally, we have to talk about ecosystems, not just individuals. McKinsey and Company’s Women in the Workplace research makes it clear that the “broken rung” is still at the first step into management, where fewer women are promoted. That means we need to examine which companies are backing up their diversity statements with transparent promotion data, mandatory bias training that actually works, and equitable parental leave. It also means asking: where can women build wealth together, through angel investing, founder networks, and women‑led funds that are rewriting the rules of who gets funded in Silicon Valley, New York, London, and Bangalore?
Those are the conversations we will continue to have here on Women in Business: economic resilience in a volatile market, closing the pay and equity gap, advancing into leadership, riding the right tech
Published on 2 days, 12 hours ago