What is going to the DEI panorama of the tech sector appear to be in 2026?
“Once I look in direction of 2026, I discover myself caught between cautious optimism and frustration,” stated Karen Blake, tech inclusion strategist and former co-CEO of the Tech Expertise Constitution.
It’s a sentiment these within the know-how sector have felt many occasions over the previous 10 years, the place the variety of ladies within the know-how sector has crept up from 16% in 2015 to 22% in 2025.
This 6% improve represents each a large enchancment and a devastatingly gradual one – this transformation has come by means of a considerable amount of effort from many devoted organisations and people, however there’s no denying the advance feels small compared with the quantity of effort put in.
“We’ve reached 441,000 ladies working as IT specialists, 22% of the occupation, up from 19% six years in the past when the sector had simply 315,000 ladies,” stated Blake. “That’s progress, arduous fought and received. The business is rising, and we’ve extra ladies than ever in these roles.
“However to realize equal illustration, we’d want so as to add one other 530,000 ladies to the sector. We’re speaking about greater than doubling present numbers.”
The present panorama
There’s little doubt the dialog surrounding variety in tech has advanced previously 10 years, with the main target shifting from simply growing the variety of ladies within the sector to pushing for illustration of all kinds of individuals in tech roles, whether or not from the angle of means, age, gender, sexuality, race or socioeconomic background.
Initiatives such because the now-defunct Tech Expertise Constitution started to push organisations for knowledge surrounding what proportion of those teams exist within the know-how workforce, how they’re being drawn in and retained, and the way they really feel about working within the know-how sector.
The UK authorities launched a Science and Know-how Committee (STC) to collect opinions and knowledge concerning the state of variety in science, know-how, engineering and maths (STEM) disciplines, and the way it could possibly be improved, and likewise launched a Girls in Tech Taskforce made up of specialists capable of “determine and dismantle” the boundaries stopping ladies from becoming a member of or staying within the tech sector.
Numerous different organisations and initiatives have been pushing for a similar factor, however the truth stays that progress is gradual.
Not solely is it gradual, however one of many causes there may be nonetheless such a low variety of underrepresented teams in tech is as a result of as soon as they enter the sector, they’re leaving.
In some situations, a scarcity of inclusive tradition or versatile working in tech workplaces is leaving individuals dissatisfied and sad, whereas the Lovelace report discovered a scarcity of alternative for development, and pay gaps are additionally responsible.
“We all know ladies are leaving at larger charges than males,” stated Blake. “We all know the pay hole persists at the same time as corporations improve salaries to draw expertise. We all know intersectional illustration has barely moved at the same time as demand for expert employees has by no means been larger. But in some way the business resists the cultural and structural modifications that may truly tackle these points.
Maybe the irritating reality is that tech doesn’t simply by chance exclude ladies and other people of color. The tradition and constructions actively resist variety in methods we’re not absolutely confronting.”
The following yr must see the business tackle inequities in inclusion, profession development and suppleness, stated Blake, or else “numbers will proceed their gradual crawl ahead whereas the actual drawback stays untouched”.
Reframing the drive
Reasonably than doubling down to unravel these points, 2025 noticed a mass dialling again of variety, fairness and inclusion (DEI) by employers.
A mixture of financial uncertainty and monetary struggles has meant variety initiatives at corporations – usually seen as a “good to have” moderately than a “should have” – are the primary to be lower.
In some circumstances, the dialog surrounding DEI has shifted, turning into a quiet and small a part of organisations moderately than a marketable asset to showcase.
This was additional exacerbated by behaviour within the US. At the start of his present time period, Donald Trump ordered the dismantling of DEI programmes, inflicting a backlash within the UK at corporations working with US corporations particularly.
There’s a concern that these traits will proceed into 2026, regardless of analysis previously suggesting that corporations and their workers absolutely perceive how essential a various workforce is.
As identified by Sheridan Ash, co-CEO of know-how training charity Tech She Can, the financial local weather isn’t set to develop into extra secure, and disruptive applied sciences will proceed to rock the boat, so how corporations method variety will start to look totally different, which means corporations beginning to take a look at variety from the angle of “equity, expertise and entry to alternatives” moderately than the share of ladies or different underrepresented teams which can be in tech roles.
“In 2026, variety initiatives will more and more be judged on outcomes, tied to enterprise efficiency metrics that ship worth for the organisation, and its individuals and the communities it companies and works in,” she stated. “Corporations will proceed the transfer away from centralised DEI groups with extra distributed accountability.
“Because the tech business enters 2026, the dialog round variety is now not about whether or not it issues, however the way it will survive, adapt and show its worth in a extra risky financial and political local weather,” stated Ash.
“After years of daring pledges, public dashboards and high-profile reckonings, the approaching yr appears to be like set to redefine what variety in tech truly means – and the way critically the business is ready to pursue it.”
The inevitability of AI
The tempo of change for DEI turns into much more dire when contemplating the fast improvement of synthetic intelligence (AI), one thing set to achieve extra momentum over the subsequent yr.
With out numerous groups, these applied sciences received’t be match to serve the populations they’re developed for, even being made with inbuilt bias if these making the know-how don’t mirror its person base.
This has at all times been a priority, however many consider 2026 will likely be make or break for the equitable improvement of AI, with Russ Shaw, founding father of International Tech Advocates and Tech London Advocates, saying it may even serve to be a possibility to get issues proper and “unlock a wave of innovation that can maintain the nation on the very forefront of the worldwide stage”.
“There’s an excellent alternative to make 2026 a turning level for the UK tech ecosystem – the place AI can start to open the doorways of the business to everybody,” he stated. “The rising applied sciences are way more accessible to all and are proving to be an essential equaliser, stripping away outdated boundaries and creating alternatives for expertise throughout the nation to enter the sector.
“Embracing this variety is the neatest transfer the UK could make for its financial system. When a mixture of voices is on the desk constructing AI, the result’s higher merchandise that work for everybody, reaching wider markets and driving actual development.”
Non-biased improvement isn’t the one motive variety in AI improvement is essential, with Ash stating that there are additionally reputational, authorized and monetary points to think about.
“Variety in AI is turning into a vital requirement to keep away from operational and reputational danger,” she stated. “With AI techniques more and more concerned in hiring, efficiency evaluation and content material moderation, biased outputs are now not simply reputational points; they’re potential authorized and monetary liabilities.”
Whereas there are various variations in how DEI will likely be approached in 2026 – from addressing inequalities and specializing in inclusion, to coping with uncertainty and AI – the push total would be the identical: to extend illustration of underrepresented teams in tech roles.
“Variety in tech will more and more be about who builds the techniques that construct society,” stated Ash.
