Growing concerns over gender equity as political and AI shifts reshape the playing field
Press Release Dublin, October 2025 – Web Summit, the world’s leading technology events business, has revealed the findings of its annual State of Gender in Tech Report. The findings show women are more confident than ever about stepping into leadership roles and see AI and automation as keys to closing the equity gap. Yet bias, sexism, and “boys’ club” cultures still act as major barriers. Alarmingly, close to 60% of women say gender balance has deteriorated in the past year.
Key findings
- A growing sense that gender balance in tech is declining: 60% of women say it has worsened over the past year, up from 48% in 2024. More than half (56%) say recent geopolitical shifts are undermining gender equity in tech.
- AI’s double edge: 77% of women use AI daily and 75% see its potential to promote inclusion, yet one in four (25%) fear it could reinforce bias.
- Work–life balance is slipping further out of reach: 56% say they still have to choose between career success and family life, up from 49% last year. AI is mentioned as a way to save time and ease that strain.
- Sexism persists: Nearly half (49%) of women in tech say they’ve experienced sexism at work, a figure slightly lower, but largely unchanged from last year’s 51%. And 82% feel they must outperform men to be taken seriously, an even stronger sentiment than in 2024, when 76% said they felt they had to work harder to prove themselves.
- There’s some progress on pay: 37% now say they’re paid unfairly compared to male colleagues, down from 51% in 2024.
- Quotas remain divisive: Around half of respondents agreed that women are often offered leadership roles to fill quotas – 53% in 2024 and 51% in 2025 – showing opinions are still divided on the topic.
- Appetite to lead: 81% feel empowered to lead, up from 76% in 2024.
A decade after launching its women in tech programme, Web Summit’s sixth State of Gender in Tech survey goes further than previous editions, examining women’s views on leadership and how AI and global events are reshaping equity. The findings reveal both progress and setbacks: nearly 60% of 600+ respondents say gender balance in tech has worsened this year, yet 81% feel ready to lead.
Almost 75% see AI and automation as positive forces for equity, creativity, and balance, even as one in four fear they could deepen bias. For the 2025 survey, Web Summit collected responses from a sample of 671 participants in the Web Summit women in tech community worldwide, spanning Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Africa. The age of participants ranged from 18 to 74, with the largest share, 40%, falling in the 35-44 bracket.
Since its launch, women’s participation across events has risen sharply: from just 25% of attendees in 2013 to 42% a year after the programme began, in 2016, remaining strong and close to parity ever since. Web Summit 2024 also saw a remarkable increase in women-founded startups, reaching 44.5%, up from 29% in 2023.
Stand-out responses from the survey included:
“To be taken seriously, we need to overperform; mistakes are not tolerated in the same way.” “AI allows me to save time, making family life balance less of a struggle.”
“Having presidents who openly despise LGBT+ people, women in leadership, equality, and human rights sends a bad message for all women and men.”
“The boys’ clubs are back in full force.”
“I have always had to prove that I am ‘just one of the guys’. I have always needed to be ahead and on top of everything, as every minor failing was branded as women can’t handle it, rather than an opportunity to learn and grow. “
“Women need funding, not pep talks”
“True inclusion requires meaningful engagement and cultural change, not just filling quotas.”
“I want to be treated as an equal. I don’t need a new table just for women. Put me as a keynote with the rest of the boys.”
Some words from Web Summit’s Acting Community Manager:
“We’re always delighted to receive so much engagement from our annual women in tech network survey,” said Acting Community Manager at Web Summit, Catarina Burguete. “While there are plenty of reports on funding trends for women-founded companies and the number of women working in tech, it’s also important to understand the experiences, good and bad, of women working in the industry. It’s encouraging to see that more than four in five women in this survey feel confident in their leadership skills. We see that at Web Summit; the number of women-founded startups is increasing year on year.”
Burguete added: “However, despite greater awareness of the challenges women face, the core struggles remain the same: bias and work–life balance issues still dominate. Even more concerning, the pressure around maintaining that balance continues to grow. This clearly shows that we need to move faster if we want to see the changes we’re striving for.”
“Looking ahead, we’re committed to listening to and engaging with our global community of women to better understand how evolving geopolitical realities and emerging technologies, such as AI, continue to shape the path toward gender equity”, Web Summit’s Acting Community Manager concluded.
Web Summit’s Women In Tech programme, launched in 2015, aims to close the gender gap in the tech industry by encouraging greater participation from women. The initiative offers an 85% discount on general attendee tickets to women worldwide, along with priority access to exclusive Web Summit women in tech events, resources, and opportunities for collaborating and community building. Participants also have the opportunity to hear from accomplished women speakers and leaders representing global companies such as Signal, Defined.AI, Tencent, and Meta.
Web Summit is a technology events company, bringing together a global community of founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to connect and exchange ideas about the technology and trends shaping the world. Web Summit events – including Web Summit in Lisbon, Web Summit Rio in South America, Web Summit Vancouver in North America, Web Summit Qatar in the Middle East, and RISE in Asia – have gathered nearly one million people since Web Summit’s beginnings as a 150-person conference in Dublin in 2009.
Andrew Stanton CEO Proptech-PR
Andrew Stanton Founder & Editor of 'PROPTECH-X' where his insights, connections, analysis and commentary on proptech and real estate are based on writing 1.3M words annually. Plus meeting 1,000 Proptech founders, critiquing 400 decks and having had 130 clients as CEO of 'PROPTECH-PR', a consultancy for Proptech founders seeking growth and exit strategies. He also acts as an advisory for major global real estate companies on sales, acquisitions, market positioning & operations. With 200K followers & readers, he is the 'Proptech Realestate Influencer.'
- Andrew Stantonhttps://proptech-x.com/author/andrew-stanton/
- Andrew Stantonhttps://proptech-x.com/author/andrew-stanton/
- Andrew Stantonhttps://proptech-x.com/author/andrew-stanton/
- Andrew Stantonhttps://proptech-x.com/author/andrew-stanton/
