Women in Tech: underpaid, underrepresented, and underfunded

Nearly a third (29.6%) of the 1,000+ surveyed women identified funding as a significant obstacle when starting a business. This mirrors global trends where women-led startups struggle to secure venture capital.

More than half of the respondents reported a lack of women in leadership roles, with 51% feeling undercompensated compared to male counterparts. Balancing career and family life remains a growing challenge, with sexism in the workplace persisting for many. Despite these difficulties, 76% of those surveyed feel empowered to lead.

Web Summit’s 2024 Women in Tech survey, conducted over the summer, gathered insights from women involved in the tech programme in recent years.

Key findings:

• 50.8% of women reported experiencing workplace sexism, a figure that has remained consistent.
• Nearly half (49.1%) feel pressured to choose between family and career, a 7% increase from last year.
• More than 75% feel the need to work harder than men, a trend that has not changed.
• Significant challenges identified include unconscious gender bias, balancing career and personal life, a lack of female role models, imposter syndrome, and limited funding.
• Despite challenges, nearly 76% of women surveyed feel empowered to pursue leadership roles.
• 80% report having a woman in senior management at their company, and 68.2% noted a woman holds a C-level position.
• 68% view AI and automation positively in terms of promoting gender equity.

Carolyn Quinlan, VP of Community at Web Summit, commented: “Why do we have 1,000 women-founded startups joining us at Web Summit this year, and why does that number keep growing? This question comes to mind when I see the survey results showing women are still facing the same challenges."

She added: “It’s frustrating that issues like sexism, unfair pay, imposter syndrome, and work-life balance keep appearing – it often feels like we’re stuck in the same conversations. Yet, I can’t help but feel hopeful. More women are stepping up, leading, and bringing their startups to events like Web Summit."

Momentum for change

Around 56% of respondents believe the industry is not doing enough to address gender inequality, with 69% dissatisfied with government efforts. However, more women are taking on leadership opportunities. Web Summit's Women in Tech programme, launched in 2015, has seen significant progress. In 2021, women made up 50.5% of attendees for the first time, and that near parity ratio has since been maintained.

Women-founded startups are also on the rise, with a record 1,000 startups led by women set to attend Web Summit 2024 in Lisbon. Other events, including Web Summit Rio 2024, Collision 2024, and Web Summit Qatar 2024, have also seen increases in female participation.

Global trends

Web Summit's findings align with broader international trends. According to 2023 data from Nash Squared, women make up just 14% of tech leaders worldwide. Female representation in leadership roles within major companies remains at 26% to 29%, as noted by the World Bank. Funding remains a major barrier, with women-only startups receiving just 1.8% of venture capital in Europe and 2% in the US in 2023.

Survey respondents shared their personal experiences:

• “I don’t belong to the boy’s club.”
• “Without effective childcare support in place, it makes it more challenging for women who also want to have a family to fully participate in the workforce.”
• ““The culture that the technology industry fosters is skewed towards toxic male culture, celebrating egotistical leaders like Musk and admiring female leaders that copy similar behaviour.”

Web Summit continues to drive conversations around these issues through its events, aiming to create a more inclusive and equitable tech industry.

Women speakers at Web Summit 2024 include:

• Lidiane Jones, CEO of Bumble
• Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics
• Meredith Whittaker, President of Signal
• Daniela Braga, Founder of Defined.AI
• And more

The full report is available here.