Why women leave tech jobs in the UK, and what helps them stay
More than 100 women leave a UK tech job every day. Here's what the research says about why women are really leaving tech, why having a voice matters so much, and what helps them stay.
Every October, Ada Lovelace Day fills our feeds with posts celebrating women in tech, and rightly so.
Meanwhile, more than 100 women leave a UK tech job every single day; that's according to the 2025 Lovelace Report, which carries her very same name.
Why women are really leaving tech
Yes, people leave every industry, and tech's turnover overall is about average. But in tech, women are leaving at more than TWICE the rate of men, and not for the reason most people assume. It isn't the kids (only 3% said it was down to caring responsibilities). Mostly it was not being able to progress, unfair pay, and not being recognised.
Why voice matters
I see that lack of recognition with my clients more often than I'd like, and a lot of it comes down to not feeling able to use their voice.
This has nothing to do with being the loudest in the room (some of the best leaders I know are the quietest). It's about being able to say what you really think, in your own way, and trusting that someone's going to back you when you do. If you haven't got that, why would you stay?
In tech it takes a lot of energy and confidence to be the only woman standing up and speaking in a male dominated room. In my early days, I found it extremely difficult to do this. It was only later, with practice and the support of others, that I felt really able to voice my opinion, especially when it went against the grain. There's something about safety in numbers, and a lot of the time in this industry women don't have that, and that's partly why they leave.
But losing women at this rate costs UK tech A LOT of money each year, estimates are somewhere between £2 billion and £3.5 billion. It works the other way round too: McKinsey's most recent report found that companies with the most women on their executive teams are 39% more likely to outperform financially than the ones with the fewest.
Women already using their voice
The good news is that a lot of women in tech are already using their voice with real confidence, in many different ways. Take Meredith Whittaker, who is about as outspoken as it gets. She helped organise the 2018 Google walkout, when around 20,000 staff left their desks. She's now President of Signal, the encrypted messaging app, and Time magazine has named her one of the most powerful people in AI.
Her advice for women coming into tech is some of the best I've heard: "Don't laugh at the joke if you don't think it's funny." (I can definitely relate to that one.) When she thinks something is wrong, she says so, and that's kept her true to herself the whole way through.
And then there's Jess Wade, a physicist at Imperial College London, who uses her voice for other women. She noticed how many brilliant women in STEM had no Wikipedia page, so she started writing them herself, roughly one a day, alongside her actual job. That's more than 2,100 women now on the record and recognised for their work.
Why having a circle matters
I understand that supporting others can feel impossible at times. We can't all be like Jess Wade, writing a Wikipedia page a day on top of the day job, especially in an industry as relentless as ours, when most of the time it feels like we just need to get our heads down and deliver.
But the research is pretty clear that when we do work together, it has a tremendous impact. A study from MIT and Carnegie Mellon found that how well a team performed had very little to do with how clever the individuals in it were. The teams that did best were the ones where everyone had a voice and got their turn to use it, and the teams with more women in them did better.
And when researchers at Northwestern looked at who went on to land the most senior roles, over three quarters of the women who got there had a close circle of other women around them.
So for me the group is the important bit (and if you don't have that circle yet, I've put a few places to start at the end of this article).
Where the men come in
One of the things that's given me the most hope recently is how many male leaders I know who are actively supporting the women around them and doing something about this, rather than just nodding along.
And it makes a big difference. Boston Consulting Group found that in companies where men are actively involved in gender diversity, 96% report progress, and where they aren't, it's 30%.
We've still got a long way to go, and none of this is going to change overnight. But it is shifting, and it shifts a lot faster when we back each other.
I'm very grateful to the women who have been that voice for me, the ones who talked about me in rooms I wasn't in. I wouldn't have achieved what I have, or had the promotions I've had, without their support.
So here's my ask: I think Ada Lovelace would like it if we each did one small thing this week to support a woman we know in our industry: mention her in a room she isn't in, back her on a project, or join one of the groups below. What's the smallest thing you could do?
And if you're finding it hard to be heard right now, that's exactly the conversation I have with clients all the time. Book a free intro call and we can talk it through.
And if you read this far, thanks for sticking with me.
Olivia
Looking for your circle? A few places to start
The Women's Domain, a Birmingham based community amplifying women's voices in ecommerce
Women in Ecommerce UK, an independent community where women in ecommerce can network, find support and be championed into senior roles
WeAreTechWomen, the people behind the Lovelace Report, for events, learning and a very big network
Women in Tech, for jobs, community and employers who are actually doing the work
Women in Tech Week. This one isn't a group but a UK wide week of events every October, online and in person
And for the men reading
Male Allies UK, a social enterprise set up by Lee Chambers that helps men in organisations build the skills of allyship
HeForShe, the UN Women campaign inviting men to stand alongside women, run here by UN Women UK
Token Man, founded by Daniele Fiandaca to get more men into the conversation about inclusion at work