There's a growing feeling in our industry that gender equality is an old issue. Let’s call it the “problem solved” perception.

Recent industry blogs have discussed the “smashed glass ceiling,” and “outmoded, counterproductive” concerns with gender. South of 40% of employees say they resent DEI initiatives or feel they’ve gone too far, according to Gartner reports.

Diversity fatigue isn't just happening in the corporate world, either. According to a 2025 study by Kings College, London, 48% of Britons feel that equality efforts have “gone far enough.”

But before we stop talking about gender equity to focus on more urgent things, it’s worth asking if the facts back up this common perception? Is gender equality really an outdated issue?

For those of us who champion women in the workplace, there's genuine cause for celebration in 2026. We aren't where we were 20 years ago - in terms of recruitment, pay or attitudes.

Let’s take graduate level recruitment. Many companies in our industry – our own led the way – are now recruiting 50% women into graduate programmes.

The industry has some fantastic high-profile female senior leaders – inspiring women like Dame Melanie Dawes, Kate Dohaney, Allison Kirkby and our own Jeanie York and Julie Agnew.

Hearteningly, global statistics from the World Economic Forum (WEF) last year showed a further narrowing of the gender wealth gap. Each of the top 10 ranked economies, which includes the UK, have closed at least 80% of the pay gap.

These gains are real and deserve celebrating.
But they’re also only one half of the picture.

For example, it’s true that entry-level recruitment is around 50/50 male/female in many companies. But balancing this out, there’s a corresponding mid-career drop off by women workers. According to the 2025 Lovelace Report, 40-60,000 women leave the tech industry every year, most aged in their late 20s and above.

There’s a popular assumption is that mid-career women leave their careers to raise children, but the fact is that accounts for only 3% of leavers. Many more women cite not achieving promotion or pay rises as their motivation to change careers.

Likewise, there are brilliant women leaders inspiring our industry, and the corporate world generally. But they’re still the exception, not the rule, especially in board roles. Only 15.4% of executive directors in the FTSE 350 are women and 8% of CEOs.

And, while, according to the 2025 World Economic Forum report, the gender pay gap is narrowing all the time, at the rate we’re progressing, the WEF estimates it will take 123 years to reach equal pay.

What’s important to recognise is that there’s no typical female experience. The industry performs differently for different women.

It's somewhat easier for younger women, or women without children, to navigate the system. Women from a minority face extra hurdles – they’re twice as likely to leave a role because of low prospects or unfair treatment than their non-minority women colleagues. And according to some estimates, only 1 in 5 women in tech is aged 50+.

To truly solve the imbalance, we must look at the barriers facing all women.

When I was growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was a clear sense that STEM wasn't for girls. Aged ten, I told a teacher my career ambitions and she laughed. I found the right career almost by chance, by working in mobile retail, but until joining my first gender-balanced team at Virgin, I was usually the only woman in the room. Returning from maternity leave to my old job, there was little support in place, just an attitude of “work it out”.

At 13, my daughter aspires to be an aeronautical engineer. Thanks to seeing real-world representation from groups like FemEng at Glasgow University, she knows it’s an option. That’s what progress looks like. 
 A small change, and a world of difference.

That's why the subject matters to me - small changes can have an outsized impact. Both on business outcomes and on women's lives.

The issue with deprioritising gender equity, and moving on, is that this doesn't make the problem go away. It makes it bigger.

I want my daughter to enter an industry where her gender is the least interesting thing about her—not because we’ve stopped caring, but because the playing field is finally level.

True equality isn't a "backburner" issue, or an outmoded problem, or a target to hit. It’s the engine of a more resilient, profitable, and modern industry.