Female developers in tech teams

The International #Women Day is about so many things because inequalities come in so many shapes. Let me talk about one of them: women in tech, because that's where I work and where I can act.   It starts early, this idea that women are not made for tech (which only leads to tech not being made for them). Only 16% of technical roles in France are held by women. That’s how little they are taking part in what shapes increasingly our daily lives. It's the result of many inequal treatments and representations that hinder them, all in essence deep social #inequalities.   Acting against these inequalities is possible. At Orange Business, 26% of technical roles are held by women. Better, but still not enough. We’re pushing, with real programs and real results, but the work is far from being done yet.   So what do we actually do ? We’re focusing our recruitment to bring more women into technical and management roles. We follow up on gender diversity metrics every quarter at the executive management level—we #track, we #measure, and we #act. Inclusive leadership isn’t just a buzzword for us, it’s how we build our teams. We also run mentorship and empowerment programs like “WomenUp,” and I’m proud to say that 60% of participants have grown into broader responsibilities after just one year.   And the numbers show it’s working. Women now hold 30% of manager positions at Orange Business, with steady progress (+2 pts vs. last year). Women in our top management positions are at 37%, up 2 pts as well. But we’re not stopping here. Our ambition for 2026 is to raise the bar and reach a rate of women managers matching the rate of women in our overall headcount—managerial parity that truly reflects our workforce.   Why do I care? Because I want my daughter—and every girl—to see tech as her playground, not a closed club. The photo I’m sharing today is her, coding on Minecraft. She’s not waiting for permission. She’s just doing it. That’s what I want for every girl: curiosity, #confidence, and zero limits. I really hope that she won't need an International Women Day when she enters the job market. And I really hope she does not get flowers that day just because she's a woman and people think that’s what nice, sensitive women want—and that it’s all it takes to celebrate equality 🙄 (raise your hand if you’ve been there! 😅)   So, thank you to everyone, men and women, at Orange and beyond, who’s making progress real. Not with speeches or flowers, but with action.   Now, I’m off to the office—but I can’t wait to pick up our Minecraft adventure again tonight.

💻 20 years in IT. That’s how long I’ve worked in this industry. In that time, I’ve built my career on technical knowledge, hard work, and a deep love for what I do. But despite that, I still walk into rooms where people assume I can’t be the technical SME. Not because of my experience. Not because of my skills. But because I’m a woman. Over the years, I’ve had to fight harder to prove myself than male colleagues with less experience. I always believed things would get better, that we’d evolve past those outdated assumptions. Sadly, even in 2025, I still encounter that same disrespect, and not just from men. Sometimes, it comes from other women too. Let’s not forget the women who helped shape this industry, Ada Lovelace, Margaret Hamilton, Dorothy Vaughan. They were pioneers, innovators, and leaders. Women have always belonged in tech. 👉 So here’s my ask: If you work in IT, assume the woman in the room knows her stuff. Assume she’s the SME. Assume she’s a badass. Because more often than not, she is. Let’s break the bias. Together. #WomenInTech #GenderBias #InclusionMatters #TechIndustry #STEM #BiasInTech

Talent? Is everywhere. Opportunity? Scarce… unless created. They didn’t climb the ladder. They built it, and left the blueprint for others to move up. 📌 Avye Couloute The coder who started before double digits. Launched Girls Into Coding to shift the ratio. Mailed robot kits across three continents mid-lockdown. Trains girls to build tech, not wait for it. 📌 Kike Oniwinde The founder who turned protest into pipelines. Built BYP Network to scale Black economic mobility. Matched 11K+ résumés, ran 200+ mentor programs. Created tech that delivers jobs, not just access. 📌 Tiarma Witte The CTO who made tech careers low-code and high reach. Built training tracks that bypass gatekeeping and jargon. Scaled digital access through skill, not pedigree. Rewired “non-technical” into transformation-ready. 📌 Sharmi Albrechtsen The founder who coded ambition into a toy. Launched SmartGurlz to teach STEM through play. Sold 30K+ robots that run on mission-based learning. Made early tech fluency a game, and a gateway. 📌 Suw Charman-Anderson The strategist who turned silence into stagecraft. Founded Ada Lovelace Day to surface hidden talent. Sparked 100+ global events, from cabarets to code labs. Built visibility into the system, not the sidelines. 📌 Maria Klawe The president who rewired the pipeline from within. Took CS women majors from 15% to 42%. Redesigned intro courses to unlock access, not ego. Proved you don’t lower standards, just barriers. 📌 Williamina Fleming The maid who mapped the stars, and hired others to do it. Led Harvard’s women “computers” before the title existed. Discovered nebulae, classified stars, trained a generation. Built astronomy’s first pipeline, by hand, in skirts. 📌 Veronica Santos The roboticist scaling talent and tactile tech. Leads in SWE, a 27K-strong women-in-tech network. Runs the UCLA lab building hands that feel. Engineers systems, for motion, and momentum. 📌 Annalisa Arcella The scientist turning presence into pipeline. Leads Women Techmakers to train technical speakers. Builds confidence with code, not clichés. Opened the mic, and the door. 📌 Sarah Frances Whiting The physicist who built the lab before the rules. Founded Wellesley’s physics program in 1878. Trained women in science before it was allowed. Laid the groundwork, and lit the fuse. 📌 Radia Perlman The engineer who made the internet, and entry points. Invented Spanning Tree, rewired global networks. Built a coding language for kids aged three. Proved brilliance scales best when shared. 📌 Zoe Bachman The architect behind coding’s open door. Designed Codecademy’s intro path for millions. Turned syntax into story, and access into scale. Taught the world to code, one module at a time. Work is unstable. Access isn’t guaranteed. These women created opportunity,  and made sure others could have it, too. Who else builds opportunity when the market doesn't?

Every day, I speak with multiple businesses across Australia about getting more women into tech... but what about the ones who are leaving? Tech is an industry of innovation, problem-solving, and huge opportunity, yet we’re still losing women every year! From speaking to multiple women each and every week, here’s what I’m hearing; 👉 Many women are still hitting the glass ceiling. They see their peers being promoted over them, despite equal (or greater) experience and impact. Without visibility, sponsorship, and a clear path to leadership, many start questioning if the industry is worth it. 👉 Cultural issues, from microaggressions to being the only woman in the room, many feel unheard and undervalued. 👉 The pressure to overperform just to be seen, combined with outdated workplace policies, is pushing women out. Flexible work, parental leave, and psychological safety aren’t just nice-to-haves; they’re essentials. 👉 Women don’t just need advice; they need decision-makers advocating for them in rooms they’re not in. Without that, climbing the ladder becomes exhausting. I’ve spent over 12 years working in tech recruitment, hosting panels with some of the most brilliant women in the industry, and running Sisterhood Club to create spaces where women can thrive in tech. I know this problem isn’t going away unless leaders step up. That’s exactly why I started: The Big Sister Mentorship Program – connecting women with senior leaders who advocate for them, not just advise them. Career Confidence Podcast – featuring real conversations on career growth, leadership, and what it really takes to succeed. Workshops & Sisterhood Socials – because women need spaces to upskill, connect, and support each other in an industry that still isn’t designed for them. We must acknowledge that Retention is just as important as attraction. Are you ensuring women have clear career growth opportunities? Are your workplace policies built for everyone? Are you actively advocating for and sponsoring women in your teams? Tech needs women. And not just at the entry level; we need them leading, innovating, and shaping the future. What else can be done to keep women in the tech industry? Let me know your thoughts

There still aren’t enough women in tech. And no, it’s not because we “opt out.” I’ve gone back and forth on whether to write this, because women who talk about their experiences in tech are often labeled as dramatic, difficult, or making it about gender. But silence hasn’t fixed it, so here we are. I’ve loved technology since I was young. I’ve consistently outperformed, stayed late, learned more, shipped more, and cared deeply about the work. And yet, alongside that, I’ve also experienced things in my career that have nothing to do with my skill: - Being inappropriately harassed at work - Being treated as a “distraction” instead of a contributor - Being told I’m not as capable as I think I am or that my brain is less capable because I am female - Being called a DEI hire instead of an engineer - Being asked if a parent “got me the job” - Being talked over, doubted, or underestimated, even with results to back me up None of that made me better at my job. None of that helped the team. And none of that is a rite of passage we should be normalizing. Here’s the part that matters most: This is why women leave tech. Not because they can’t do the work but because they get tired of having to prove they belong over and over again. If we want more women in tech, the call to action isn’t “encourage girls to code harder.” It’s: - Take women seriously the first time - Believe competence doesn’t have a gender - Call out inappropriate behavior when you see it - Stop assuming confidence equals arrogance when it comes from a woman - Make space where women don’t have to armor up just to do their jobs There are so many brilliant, driven, creative women who would thrive in this field if the environment didn’t quietly push them out. I’m still here because I love the work. But I want it to be better for the women coming after me so they get to focus on building, learning, and leading… not surviving. If you’re in tech, you’re part of shaping that future. Let’s do better than we did before. #WomenInTech #WomenWhoBuild #TechCulture #EngineeringLeadership #InclusiveTech #DiversityInTech #EquityInTech #RepresentationMatters #BuildBetterTeams #TechCareers #WomenInEngineering #LeadershipInTech #FutureOfWork #ChangeTheCulture

Why Every Tech Team Needs Women I love having women on my teams. Productivity skyrockets. Team relationships get better. Levels of trust go through the roof. It changes the whole energy of how people work together. Things get done faster, and somehow the room feels calmer and sharper at the same time. It did not always start that way. Years ago, HR once called me out for not hiring enough women. I thought, fair point, so I went and looked at who had applied. Every single resume belonged to a man. Not one woman had applied. That hit me. It was not that I was choosing not to hire women. It was that the system was set up in a way where they were not even showing up. And if they were not showing up, that was on me too. So I decided to do something about it. I started showing up where they were. I went to local meetups that focused on women in tech. I joined community events, networked with groups that promoted inclusion, and made sure that when I introduced my team, it did not sound like a single demographic echo chamber. And something amazing happened. They showed up. And when they joined, the team changed. Conversations got richer. Conflict resolution got faster. The quality of decisions improved. The jokes got funnier. And the entire tone of collaboration leveled up. Women bring a kind of balanced intensity that teams desperately need. They notice things others overlook. They think about impact and ripple effects, not just speed. And when they are in the room, the room feels safer for everyone to contribute. You cannot fake that kind of culture. You have to build it intentionally. So now, when people ask how to improve team dynamics or build more trust, I tell them this: start by looking around the table. If everyone looks like you, thinks like you, and talks like you, you are missing out on most of the good ideas. I do not just want women on my teams because it is fair. I want them there because it makes us better. Every single time.

The latest research from The Wharton School about women in tech careers confirms what many of us in the field already know: early rejection in STEM roles disproportionately drives women out of tech, not because of a lack of talent, but due to the absence of support, inclusion, and visible opportunity. Why should businesses care? * Workforce development: The tech talent gap is real, and it's widening. Supporting women through career transitions and mid-level advancement is no longer optional. It’s essential to keep projects moving and teams competitive. * Higher performance & innovation: Research consistently shows that companies with greater gender diversity report higher revenue, profitability, and innovation outcomes. * Retention = ROI: Losing qualified women early in their careers means restarting recruitment, retraining, and onboarding repeatedly. Retaining and developing existing talent is far more efficient and cost-effective. At Women in Technology (WIT), we have a strategic focus on data-driven programming that not only supports women from the classroom to the boardroom but also helps businesses future-proof their talent pipelines and drive long-term performance. We believe that bringing women into tech is just the start! The key to unlocking exceptional performance and lasting growth for companies lies in retaining and nurturing these talented professionals. #WomenInTechnology #RetentionMatters #CommunitiesofInnovation #TechTalentPipeline

If you're losing brilliant women at the final stages of hiring - this might be why... Let me talk you through a recent example where a company had a disproportionately high number of women dropping out at late interview and offer stage for their tech roles: They were offering great salaries. Flexible working. A decent benefits package. So what was going wrong? We took a look at the data. Out of 2 billion data points, a few things stood out: → Diversity is non-negotiable. Women in tech rank it 31% higher than the average candidate. If they don’t see representation in leadership, they won’t apply → Flexible hybrid work wins, because structure matters. Demand for remote-only roles is 11% below average, while core hours and in-office collaboration rank higher → Family-friendly policies trump flashy perks. Fertility leave (+41%), job sharing (+33%), and parental leave (+19%) are the real differentiators But then we dug deeper; and that's where it got really interesting: → Women in data roles showed a higher demand for in-office work - mentorship and access to resources mattered → Women in engineering & development wanted mission-driven work and career progression above all else → Women in product roles prioritised culture and flexibility more than any other group The company checked their employer brand. Their careers page talked about “great culture” and “exciting opportunities.” But it said nothing about what actually mattered to the people they were trying to hire. They weren’t losing candidates because of the salary or the benefits. They were losing them because they don't know what their target talent groups actually want. The companies getting this right aren’t guessing. They’re using data to shape their employer brand - so they attract the right people, with the right message. Download our women in tech report to access more of these insights: https://lnkd.in/enYcGpeW And tell me if you've turned down a job offer for similar reasons? #WomenInTech #Hiring #EmployerBranding #FutureOfWork #DiversityMatters

"But what about the women?" 🤔 I've spent a fair bit of time speaking about workplace cultures and making them inclusive, but this week I was pleased to speak to #WomenInTech at Cajigo's mentoring session. We discussed the following scenario that still too many women face: "As the only woman in the team: 🔶 you’re more likely to get asked to take notes in meetings 🔶 you face barriers and challenges with your male boss 🔶 you’re told you don’t contribute enough to the team 🔶 you're given the low level projects to work on 🔶 you are paid less than your male colleagues 🔶 your ideas aren’t taken seriously 🔶 there’s no room for progression 🔶 your voice is not heard 🔶 there’s not enough EQUALITY in the team 👉 THIS is a reality for many women working in tech and leads to being UNDERVALUED, with a knock-on effect on #mentalhealth, #wellbeing and women leaving organisations. " And while it sucks when you're in that situation, there are things you can do to take your power back 💪 My most frequent advice? ↪ Build your visibility ↪ Create a 'real' career development plan ↪ Build your network (early) and get yourself sponsors I explore these and many more tips in my book #ValuedAtWork, and also work 1:1 with women to help them discover and harness their untapped potential at work. If you find yourself in the situation described above and don't know what to do, please do get in touch. And a big THANK YOU to Cajigo and Rav Bumbra for the opportunity to share my experience as well as to learn from the amazing Amanda Newman who is an INCREDIBLE human - if you're not following her, you're missing out 😊

7 things nobody tells you about being a woman in tech: 1. You'll be the only woman in the room. Very often. 2. You're treated as the exception, not the norm. Yes, they invite you everywhere - but as a mascot. You have more visibility than many male colleagues, but less chance that people see you as just a regular engineer or product lead, rather than a special case. 3. People assume you're junior. Even when you're running the meeting. Even when your title says otherwise. 4. Microaggressions exhaust you more than big shocks. It's rarely open sexism. It's the constant small things: being interrupted, having obvious things explained to you, having your expertise doubted until proven otherwise. 5. Imposter syndrome isn't just “in your head.” It's fed by the environment. Your competence is constantly questioned while men with the same skill level confidently apply for roles you’ve told yourself you're “not ready for”. 6. You become the team’s unofficial emotional support: onboarding new people, resolving conflicts, organizing team events, saying yes to “Can you talk to the junior?” 7. You're expected to represent all women. Every question about diversity, “how do we attract more women,” or “how do we make the product women-friendly” suddenly becomes your responsibility. What did I miss?