How can the tech industry sustain gender equality momentum?

International Women's Day is a powerful annual focal point for assessing where business and society are on their shared equality journey. While recognizing progress is key, it's also about identifying areas for improvement; some new and some stubbornly persistent.

Seen by many as relatively progressive in its outlook and practices, the technology industry offers a useful case study of whether outcomes actually match intent. To understand current perspectives and experiences, I spoke with five colleagues about the changes that would make the biggest difference to workplace gender equality over the next year.

Structural challenges remain

Fully bridging the gap between intent and what happens within businesses on a daily basis remains a core challenge across the sector.

As Annemie Vanoosterhout, Release and Project Manager, Datadobi, points out, many organizations still need to address a fundamental, structural issue from the earliest stages of the recruitment process: "the implementation of anonymized, skill-based hiring processes with salary-band transparency at the point of offer is a fully balanced approach that can help eliminate the initial gender pay gap. This is a central equality issue that must be addressed at entry rather than later, as it's clear that in many cases, the gap is never closed."

"One concrete action the technology industry should commit to is funding and scaling paid internships and early-career programs specifically designed to bring more young women into technical roles and leadership tracks," says Frankie Corsini, Senior Solutions Advisor, Datadobi. "Access and meaningful exposure at the start of your career fundamentally shape long-term representation. This can be acted on immediately by allocating budget and intentionally expanding internship programs that directly connect opportunity to hiring outcomes. If we want a stronger, more diverse leadership pipeline, then senior leaders need to be deliberate about building it today."

But this isn't just a matter of changing how businesses find talent; it remains a product of deeply entrenched imbalances in educational and talent pipelines. "In certain senior and highly technical roles, we still see predominantly male representation today," said Linda De Schrijver, Global HR Manager, Datadobi. "Although these roles are entirely gender-neutral, the technical nature of the profiles means that the majority of applicants - often up to 90% - are men."

"The biggest challenge continues to be attracting more women into industry roles," she says. "We still need to encourage more girls and young women to pursue IT studies, so that the long-term talent pipeline becomes more balanced."

Opportunity drives success and equality

For Erica Cronan, Director of Marketing, Datadobi, effort must extend beyond hiring into representation in "revenue-driving visibility, keynote stages, media interviews, analyst briefings, webinars, advisory boards, and customer-facing thought leadership."

"The people we put on stage and in front of customers are the ones perceived as experts, innovators, and leaders," she says, arguing that this kind of visibility is directly linked to influence and career progress.

"This isn't about adding a woman to a panel once a year," she argues. "It's about auditing who represents the company externally, such as whose thought leadership gets published, who meets with analysts, who leads enterprise webinars, who speaks at user conferences - and then making intentional adjustments."

One thing I feel strongly about is that one of the industry's biggest blind spots isn't only how women are portrayed, but who is shaping those portrayals. Getting this right requires elevating diverse leadership and ensuring women have real influence in creative and executive roles.

When decision-making rooms lack diverse voices, unconscious bias seeps into briefs, creative direction, and strategy. The issue is often subtle: underrepresentation, narrow storytelling, or failing to reflect the full complexity of women's lives and ambitions.

In contrast, when the industry sees innovative, high-performing companies with a strong bench of confident, visible female leaders, it sends a clear message: this is a place where women can thrive. That visibility doesn't just inspire - it attracts the next generation of talent.

That's why I believe deeply in mentorship, both from other women and from strong leaders of any gender. Meaningful mentorship builds confidence, expands opportunity, and creates a ripple effect of empowerment that strengthens not just individuals but the entire organization.

"Data consistently shows that women outperform in consultative, relationship-driven sales environments, and given that this is exactly where enterprise technology sales has moved, building mixed-gender teams isn't just an equity issue, it's a competitive one," says Denise Natali, VP of Sales Americas, Datadobi. "The nature of sales has fundamentally changed - longer cycles, complex stakeholder landscapes, and a demand for genuine customer centricity mean that the most effective teams are deliberately mixed, structured to maximize the distinct strengths each person brings."

If more tech organizations intentionally uplifted women in this way, then our industry wouldn't just be more inclusive, it would be stronger and more effective overall.