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Government brings in new measures to boost women’s participation in tech industry

The new plan includes a jobs programme for 300 women to take up paid placements in tech roles across the UK, funded by a £4m TechFirst Women’s Programme. 

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Government brings in new measures to boost women’s participation in tech industry
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The Government has brought in a package of measures to help more women move into tech, with support for those at every stage of their career. 

The new plan includes a jobs programme for 300 women to take up paid placements in tech roles across the UK, funded by a £4m TechFirst Women’s Programme. 

The scheme will offer coaching and interview support and connect women with small and medium-sized businesses for at least six months.

A pilot Returnship Scheme for skilled software developers is also being set up. 

The pilot, run in partnership with the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, is aimed at helping people who have been away from utilities for 18 months or more, such as mothers returning to work, move into senior tech roles in Government. 

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The scheme aims to tackle the ‘CV gap’ that many returners face.

Girls at school will also be targeted.

 A new TechFirst Girls Competition, run in partnership with IBM and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), will be launched later this year. 

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Thousands of 12 and 13 year old girls across the UK will take part in challenges involving coding and artificial intelligence (AI), to show them what a career in tech could look like.

The Women in Tech Taskforce has launched a call for evidence to look at how to support women with new technologies and address bias in tech. 

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The taskforce is seeking views to help shape future work.

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Secretary of State Liz Kendall, said: “Women aren’t being given a fair shot in tech – whether that’s getting into the sector, staying in it, or returning after time away bringing up their families. 

“If we don’t address these issues now, we’ll still be having this conversation in decades’ time and that isn’t good enough.

“We’re acting through a skills and jobs package to get more women into tech quickly.”

Kendall added: “These aren’t warm words – they’re real jobs, real placements, and real routes back in through a door that has been too hard to open, for too long.

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“But we’re not just fixing today’s problem. Through the women in tech taskforce, I want to make sure women aren’t just entering this sector – they’re shaping it. 

“Co-creating the technologies, the culture, and the future of an industry that for too long has been built without them.”

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