Gender inequality in tech is an ongoing problem and a critical subject of discussion – continuous reports highlight that the issue is simply not going away, and progress is staggeringly slow.

The World Economic Forum recently published a set of four recommended pathways for getting women into tech leadership roles noting that gender equality “remains an unfulfilled promise.”

A recent study of the gender balance of Chief Information Officers at FTSE 100 companies by Frank Recruitment Group, a Tenth Revolution Group company, revealed that in 2022, women made up just 27% of CIOs and that their average tenure at that level was a full year shorter than their male counterparts.

To follow on on these enquiries into women in tech leadership roles, researchers at Revolent, a Tenth Revolution Group company, have conducted a case study of middle management tech roles across the top companies by market cap in the UK, Canada, and the US.

Looking specifically at senior and lead roles for architects, developers, and engineers, the findings indicate fewer women than men at middle management, and that those women who are present seem to have less time in those roles as well.

In both the UK and US, only 11% of middle management tech roles are occupied by women, and 17% in Canada.

Further, the tenure in these roles is shorter for women: the average tenure for men in middle management is 3.7 years, with women only staying 2.5 years on average, equalling a gap of 1.2 years.

At the senior level, this gap increases to 1.4 year, with a gap of 1 year in lead level role tenures.

In addition to this, women make up just 22% of tech professionals who have a tenure of more than a decade in their role.

Revolent EMEA & APAC CEO Ian Clark commented: “Gender inequality’s still a critical subject in tech, because progress has been too slow. The data here on middle management helps build out the picture on leadership – if we aren’t getting women into these senior and lead roles, there’s less chance they’ll reach the executive level.

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“And their shorter average tenure is also a potential problem. It may mean that women have started in their positions more recently of course, but it could also indicate that women are not staying in these jobs. We have to make sure we’re equipping women in tech with the resources, support, and opportunities they need to progress.”

But what is to be done about this persistent issue?

Clark continued: “Gender inequality is a major issue in tech, and all the more pressing to address in the context of the skills gap. This study is an important reminder that we need to be thinking about pathways. We have to encourage and empower women to pursue tech work at every level so that there are women who can progress from entry level roles to senior roles, and so there are women at senior and lead level who can progress to the executive level. We can’t only be working to solve the problem at just one level, the whole journey is important.”