The UK economy could stand to lose out on more than £10bn of growth over the next decade if current trends locking women out of tech roles, a new report has claimed.
Research from the City of London Corporation’s Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce looked at mid-career women and found that rigid hiring practices in the technology sector were preventing them from taking on digital roles.
According to the task force, more than 12,100 digital vacancies went unfilled across the tech, finance and professional services sectors in 2024, costing an estimated £1bn in unmet economic growth.
The report found that certain CV screening practices were sidelining mid-career women seeking tech-focused roles. These included penalties for caring-related career gaps, narrow definitions of relevant experience and bias in automated recruitment tools.
“As AI and automation accelerate, the risk of exclusion grows,” commented Elizabeth Anderson, chief executive of the Digital Poverty Alliance.
“Women who are already overlooked by rigid hiring processes are also more likely to be displaced by technological change, and less likely to be offered the reskilling needed to stay connected to the digital economy. When that happens at scale, exclusion becomes systemic leaving talent unused, vacancies unfilled, and firms exposed to significant costs.”
The report notes that discouraging women from retraining in roles related to AI and other new technologies reinforces an already problematic skills gap.
Reskilling women represents one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to close digital vacancies, protect roles from AI disruption, and retain institutional knowledge,” said AND Digital VP of product development Linda Benjamin.
“But progress cannot stop at hiring alone. Organisations must also expand access to sponsorship and create fair leadership pathways that enable women to pivot into emerging areas like AI.”
