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08/06/2026 4:46 pm
TL;DR: Women remain underrepresented in IT even as demand surges, with Gartner citing 31% female representation in IT roles and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting 667,600 new computer and IT jobs through 2030. The opportunity is real, but access to it still depends on culture, support, and sustained skill-building.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by StrongDM: How to Thrive as a Woman in IT: A Comprehensive Guide in 2026
By the numbers:
- According to Gartner, only 31% of IT employees are women.
- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says computer and information technology jobs are expected to grow by 13 percent from 2020 to 2030, adding 667,600 new jobs.
Questions worth separating out
Q: How can organisations improve representation of women in IT teams?
A: Organisations improve representation by fixing both entry and retention.
Q: Why does workplace culture matter so much in technical careers?
A: Workplace culture shapes whether people stay long enough to build depth.
Q: What is the best way to bring more women into cybersecurity?
A: The most effective approach is to treat cybersecurity as a broad career family rather than a single narrow path.
Practitioner guidance
- Audit hiring and promotion pathways for hidden exclusion Review job descriptions, interview loops, promotion criteria, and referral patterns for signals that narrow the candidate pool or advantage one profile repeatedly.
- Strengthen workplace reporting and response mechanisms Make harassment and discrimination reporting usable, confidential, and fast to act on so technical staff do not have to choose between safety and career progression.
- Create multiple entry routes into security work Offer internships, rotational roles, apprenticeships, and adjacent-role transitions so support, analysis, and operations staff can move into IAM and security careers.
What's in the full article
StrongDM's full blog covers the practical career guidance this post intentionally leaves at the strategy level:
- Role-by-role examples of IT careers women can pursue, from support to architecture and security
- Named training and education resources for building technical skills and confidence
- Advice from multiple contributors on handling workplace bias, growth, and career progression
- Examples of how to choose a role that fits different learning styles and work preferences
👉 Read StrongDM's guide to women thriving in IT careers →
Women in IT in 2026: where the talent gap and culture gap still collide?
Explore further
08/06/2026 6:35 pm
Representation gaps in IT are a workforce governance problem, not just a diversity metric. The article shows that women remain materially underrepresented even while demand for technical talent keeps rising. That combination tells us the market is not short of interest, but short of inclusive structures that let talent persist. For IAM and security leaders, the conclusion is simple: workforce composition is part of operational risk management.
A few things that frame the scale:
- 80% of identity breaches involved compromised non-human identities such as service accounts and API keys, according to Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, which shows how weak identity oversight remains in practice.
A question worth separating out:
Q: How should leaders measure whether inclusion efforts are working?
A: Leaders should measure hiring mix, retention, promotion rates, access to training, and participation in high-visibility work. If representation improves only at entry level but not in advancement, the programme is not working. The real signal is whether women are staying, progressing, and taking on technical leadership roles.
👉 Read our full editorial: Women in IT still face a representation gap in 2026
