Call for evidence from UK's Women in Tech taskforce
There are concerns that women leaving tech has real consequences for emerging technologies and artificial intelligence (AI).
Women leaving tech can cause inherent biases built into designs by an unrepresentative workforce continuing to disproportionately impact women.
This includes AI recruitment tools reportedly being found to favour male names nearly five times more than females, while other research uncovered AI models built to predict liver disease are twice as likely to miss the disease in women.
The Taskforce is seeking to ensure it continues to use real, lived experiences to shape its work and future government action.
Its call for evidence closes on 23 April 2026.
Alongside, a £4mln, government-backed TechFirst Women’s Programme will offer paid tech placements and support for women re-entering tech jobs after career breaks.
The government says its package will identify at least 300, minimum six-month, paid tech placements for women in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
It will also reportedly provide women with coaching and interview prep support, helping them unlock career opportunities while encouraging SMEs to adopt and innovate with artificial intelligence (AI) and tech in their operations.
This comes alongside a ‘returnship jobs’ pilot scheme for supporting skilled software developers to re-enter the workforce in senior government tech roles after having time away.
The scheme will be piloted with the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, and open to any software developers who have been away from work for 18 months or longer.
This aims to help bust the ‘CV gap’ barrier many returners face, particularly women who have put their career on hold for their families and childcare.
Women remain underrepresented in tech, and women leaving the sector is said to equal an estimated £2-3.5bln a year in losses for the UK economy.
The TechFirst Girls Competition, a new partnership between the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and IBM, will also be launched across the UK later in 2026.
It aims to get more girls to consider a future career in tech from early ages, expecting to see thousands of 12- and 13-year-old girls compete. They will be asked to use technologies such as AI and coding to think creatively and problem-solve to compete in challenges.
