The UK economy is losing as much as £3.5 billion a year as tens of thousands of women leave the technology sector amid stalled career progression, unequal pay and weak leadership pipelines, according to a new landmark report released to mark Ada Lovelace Day.
The 2025 Lovelace Report: Unlocking £2–3.5 Billion, published on Tuesday, reveals that between 40,000 and 60,000 women are quitting the industry annually — an exodus that experts warn is undermining the country’s ambitions to become a global leader in artificial intelligence and digital innovation.
Despite making up just 20% of the tech workforce, women are leaving at twice the rate of men, with the losses hitting hardest among mid-career professionals who should form the backbone of Britain’s digital economy.
The report’s authors say the problem is not that women are failing to enter tech, but that the system is failing to retain them. More than three-quarters of women with 11–20 years’ experience said they had waited over three years for a promotion, while half earned below-average pay for their seniority.
Although 90% of women in the sector say they want to lead, only one in four believe they can, citing a lack of sponsorship, opaque promotion pathways, and workplace cultures that undervalue women’s contributions.
The report estimates an annual cost of £1.4–2.2 billion in lost productivity from women leaving tech, and a further £640 million–1.3 billion from turnover as women move between employers in search of better pay or opportunity.
Elizabeth Anderson, chief executive of the Digital Poverty Alliance, said the findings highlight how structural inequality and digital exclusion reinforce one another.
“With women being 14–22% more likely to be in digital poverty than men, Ada Lovelace serves as an important reminder of the need to close the gender gap in access to technology,” Anderson said.
“Without the right tools, connectivity and digital literacy, many women face a self-perpetuating cycle of exclusion that limits their ability to participate in the workforce.”
She added that the issue goes beyond workplace access to devices, noting that digital exclusion now “deepens existing inequalities” by limiting access to education, healthcare, and financial planning.
“Celebrating Ada’s legacy is not just about honouring the past — it’s about ensuring every woman can thrive in a digitally connected world,” she said.
The report warns that the UK’s inability to retain female tech professionals comes at a dangerous moment. The government’s AI and Digital Skills Strategy aims to scale the national AI workforce twentyfold by 2030, yet the sector already faces a shortfall of 98,000–120,000 skilled workers across AI, cybersecurity, and infrastructure.
Industry leaders say the country risks falling further behind the US, Canada and Singapore unless it tackles workplace inequality and embeds retention incentives into industrial policy.
“This isn’t just about fairness — it’s an economic emergency,” one senior tech executive told Business Matters. “If half of your skilled workforce leaves before reaching senior level, you’re not just losing talent, you’re sabotaging your own growth strategy.”
Each year, Ada Lovelace Day celebrates the pioneering mathematician who in the 19th century imagined machines that could process ideas as well as numbers — a vision that prefigured the birth of modern computing.
But 184 years after Lovelace’s notes on Charles Babbage’s analytical engine, the report argues that the UK is still failing to build the inclusive innovation ecosystem she envisioned.
The researchers conclude with a stark warning: unless companies address career stagnation and gender inequity, the UK will continue to “bleed talent and opportunity.”
“On Ada Lovelace Day, this research is both a celebration and a call to action,” the report states. “Women have been at the heart of technology since its inception — and the UK cannot afford to lose the next generation of its brightest minds.”
