National Inclusion Week 2025: Why Now Matters
National Inclusion Week runs from the 15th to the 21st September, led by Inclusive Employers. Each year, it brings organisations together to celebrate and strengthen their commitment to inclusion.
The theme for 2025’s week is “Now is the Time”, and nowhere is this message more urgent than in the technology industry.
Women currently make up approximately 26% of the UK tech workforce. In engineering and developer roles, that drops to around 16%. Leadership representation is thinner still, with only a small proportion of CTOs, CIOs, and senior engineers being women. At the same time, headlines have shown some organisations scaling back diversity and inclusion programmes, and public debate has challenged the very idea of inclusive workplaces.
For some people, it might feel like the tide is turning away from inclusion. But in reality, now is the moment to double down. Inclusion isn’t just about fairness, it’s about ensuring the tech sector has the creativity, talent, and resilience to grow.
Why Inclusion in Tech is More Urgent Than Ever
Diversity Fuels Better Innovation
Tech is all about solving complex problems. But if the people building the solutions all share similar backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, blind spots appear.
– Amazon famously scrapped an AI recruitment tool after discovering it was biased against women because it had been trained on data from mostly male applicants.
– Apple’s early health-tracking app launched without a menstrual cycle tracker – a feature many women considered essential.
These examples show what happens when women are excluded from decision-making. By contrast, McKinsey research shows that companies with more gender-diverse executive teams are 25% more likely to outperform financially, while Cloverpop found that inclusive teams make decisions 87% more effectively.
In short: when women are at the table, the outcomes are better for everyone.
Tackling the UK’s Digital Skills Gap
The UK economy is struggling to fill digital roles. TechUK estimates the skills shortage costs around £63 billion every year. If women remain underrepresented in tech, we are leaving a huge portion of potential talent untapped.
Bringing more women into tech roles and supporting them to stay and progress is essential for the health of the sector and the wider economy.
Avoiding Backwards Steps
There’s been a worrying narrative shift in recent years, with some arguing that diversity and inclusion initiatives are “nice-to-have extras.” But the data suggests otherwise.
– PwC research shows 78% of students can’t name a single famous woman working in tech.
– Women who do enter the sector are more likely to leave within 5-7 years, often citing poor culture, lack of progression, or burnout.
Pulling back from inclusion efforts risks cementing these patterns and losing out on generations of talent.
How Employers Can Build Inclusion into Tech
Inclusion doesn’t happen by accident. It needs deliberate, consistent action. Here are some of the ways tech employers can step up:
1. Rethink Hiring Practices
- Audit job descriptions for gendered language – tools like Gender Decoder can help.
- Focus on skills and potential, not just degrees or years of experience. This opens doors for career changers and self-taught talent.
- Ensure interview panels are diverse, so candidates see representation at every stage.
2. Create Visible Career Pathways
- Establish mentorship and sponsorship programmes for women and underrepresented groups. Sponsorship is especially powerful – when leaders actively advocate for someone’s career progression, doors open.
- Share promotion criteria openly. Transparency helps counter bias and shows employees what they need to succeed.
- Offer leadership training programmes that intentionally bring women into the pipeline.
3. Support Flexibility and Wellbeing
Flexible work isn’t a perk or “nice to have”, it’s a retention strategy. The CIPD 2024 survey showed that employees with access to flexible working were more engaged and loyal to their organisations.
Hybrid working, flexible hours, and remote-first opportunities particularly benefit women balancing caring responsibilities.
4. Be Transparent About Pay and Progression
- Publish gender pay gap data openly, not just to tick a compliance box.
- Set improvement goals and link leadership accountability or bonuses to meeting them.
- Share progress updates publicly to build trust.
5. Invest in Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
ERGs create belonging. Whether it’s a Women in Tech network, parents’ group, or LGBTQ+ allies forum, these groups give employees a voice and build community.
The most effective ERGs are those supported by senior leaders who don’t just endorse them but take part in their activities and listen to their feedback.
How Individuals Can Make a Difference
It’s not only employers who shape inclusion. Every individual in tech has a role to play.
Be An Active Ally
Allyship means more than good intentions. In practice, it looks like:
– Giving credit to women’s ideas in meetings.
– Noticing when colleagues are interrupted and inviting them back into the conversation.
– Challenging biased assumptions, for example, questioning why a project lead role always defaults to the same type of candidate.
Mentor and Sponsor
Sharing knowledge can change careers. A short monthly call with someone new to the industry can provide encouragement and direction.
Sponsorship goes further: using your influence to put forward underrepresented colleagues for stretch projects or promotions.
Tip: Platforms like LinkedIn or Women in Tech networks are great places to connect with mentees or mentors.
Keep Learning
Inclusion is a skill that can be developed.
- Take Harvard’s free Implicit Bias Test to reflect on your own assumptions.
- Explore CIPD’s resources on inclusive language and workplace culture.
- Stay curious and open to feedback: inclusion is an ongoing journey, not a one-off training session.
Now Is the Time
National Inclusion Week is a valuable reminder to pause, reflect, and recommit to building workplaces where everyone can thrive. But inclusion isn’t a one-week event, it must be woven into the everyday culture of tech organisations.
For employers, that means embedding inclusion in hiring, career development, pay, and leadership accountability. For individuals, it means choosing allyship, mentorship, and self-reflection.
The theme “Now is the Time” is a call to all of us. If we want the tech industry to be innovative, fair, and sustainable, we can’t afford to wait.
At Women in Tech, our mission is to support women at every stage of their careers, and to help organisations build inclusive futures. Because when women are included in tech, everyone benefits.
