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Yes, diversity in tech is under pressure—but the evidence points to two distinct problems, not a universal retreat by every employer. Representation and advancement remain unequal, while political scrutiny is changing how some companies fund, describe and measure diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work. The available U.S. and UK evidence supports concern about slow progress and contested programs; it does not establish that the whole industry is moving backward.
What does the workforce data show?
U.S. high-tech jobs remain unevenly represented
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), reporting on high-tech employment data from 2005 to 2022, found that women, Black workers and Hispanic workers remained substantially underrepresented. Black representation changed very little over that period, and female representation changed virtually not at all. The EEOC reported that women made up 22.6% of the high-tech workforce across all industries, compared with 4% of the high-tech workforce in the high-tech sector. Those figures refer to different workforce groupings in the EEOC’s analysis, so they should not be treated as two estimates of the same population.
Age is another part of the picture: workers over 40 fell from 55.9% of the high-tech workforce in 2014 to 52.1% in 2022, according to the EEOC. These figures show a decline in that age group’s share, not what happened to any individual worker’s job prospects.
In its 11 September 2024 release, EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows said there was “a high degree of underrepresentation and a disturbing lack of career advancement for female, Black, and Hispanic workers in the high tech workforce.” The commission’s findings cover both representation and advancement, which means headcount alone cannot describe the full disparity.
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The UK evidence covers a wider set of barriers
A UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology report published on 26 June 2025 identifies underrepresentation across ethnicity, gender, neurodiversity, disability, sexual orientation, age and socioeconomic background. It also points to disparities in leadership and access to funding. This wider scope matters: a workforce can look more diverse at entry level while unequal access to senior roles or funding persists.
Is DEI being rolled back in tech?
There is evidence of a more contested environment, but not enough to conclude that every technology employer is abandoning diversity efforts. ISACA’s global survey of 7,726 technology professionals found that 87% believed women were underrepresented; only 41% of businesses had programs to hire more women. The survey, released by ISACA on 16 December 2024, captures professional perceptions and reported business programs—not a census of every tech company or a year-over-year measure of hiring.
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The Conference Board’s U.S. findings show why the issue is not simply a choice between universal support and universal opposition. In its survey of 1,345 U.S. workers in August 2024, 58% said their organization devoted the appropriate effort to DEI, while 21% said its efforts were insufficient. The same survey found that 49% of women and 56% of Black respondents would not work for a company that did not take DEI seriously. The Conference Board’s Principal Researcher Allan Schweyer summarized the employee response this way: “DEI values and initiatives are essential for many US employees and continue to receive strong, positive feedback.”
At the same time, a separate Conference Board survey of 73 senior executives in March 2024 found that 63% considered the political climate very or extremely challenging for DEI, 69% expected scrutiny to persist or increase, and 53% said their company had changed its DEI terminology. A change in language is not proof that a program has been cut; the findings do show that leaders are operating under pressure to reconsider how inclusion work is communicated and defended.
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What does this mean for workers and job seekers?
For someone choosing an employer or planning a career in technology, the evidence suggests looking past a company’s public statement. The practical questions are whether people have fair access to hiring, advancement, pay and leadership, and whether the company can explain how it checks those outcomes. A program’s name or a general promise cannot answer those questions on its own.
- Look for evidence about who is hired and promoted, not just entry-level recruitment efforts.
- Ask whether the company examines pay and advancement patterns and explains what it does when it finds gaps.
- Consider whether accessibility and inclusion extend to employees with disabilities and neurodivergent employees, as well as to other groups identified in the UK government report.
- Notice whether employees have access to mentors, role models and professional networks; ISACA respondents identified these as useful supports.
These are ways to assess how an employer approaches opportunity; the cited studies do not establish that any one company will offer a particular salary, promotion path or workplace experience.
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What can employers do when DEI is politically contested?
The evidence supports focusing on durable workplace practices and measurable outcomes rather than relying on slogans. The EEOC recommends that high-tech employers proactively examine barriers affecting women, older workers, Black workers and Hispanic workers. ISACA respondents also emphasized role models, mentors, networking organizations and attention to pay inequality.
The Conference Board’s findings point to a communication challenge: leaders should explain why equitable treatment matters, how compensation is approached and how any targets are measured. The report notes that some employees worry targets may be perceived as quotas, so clarity about what a target measures—and how decisions are made—is important. The sources do not show that a single intervention guarantees better representation or advancement; employers need to assess outcomes across hiring, promotion, pay, accessibility and leadership.
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How certain is the overall picture?
The strongest quantified evidence here comes from U.S. and UK sources that use different definitions of “high tech,” “technology sector” and “IT professionals.” Their figures cannot be combined into one global trend line. Together they support a clear but bounded conclusion: underrepresentation persists, some groups face advancement barriers, and DEI work is under political and organizational scrutiny. They do not prove that every tech company has reduced diversity, or that diversity across the industry has uniformly declined.
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