An EEOC analysis finds women made up 22.6% of US workers in high-tech roles in 2022, similar to the 22% in 2005, even as the number of lucrative jobs has soared
The EEOC had already said the industry was underutilizing diverse talent in 2016. This analysis supplies a long-run benchmark: women’s share of US high-tech roles was little changed from 2005 to 2022 despite growth in those jobs.
The result also complicates broader recent reporting of rising women’s share of tech employment, suggesting that progress can differ materially by how roles are defined and counted.
First-order effects
The EEOC’s finding gives employers, workers, and policymakers a concrete measure of persistent gender imbalance in high-tech occupations.
The agency chair’s call not to retreat from diversity and inclusion efforts puts continued employer attention on hiring and advancement practices.
Second-order effects
Companies that have made representation commitments face greater pressure to show whether gains extend into high-tech roles rather than relying on aggregate workforce figures.
The gap between this occupation-specific measure and broader tech-job analyses raises the stakes for clearer workforce reporting, particularly on job categories and seniority.
Third-order effects
If the share remains flat while high-tech employment expands, the sector’s growth will continue to distribute high-paying technical opportunities unevenly by gender.
The finding reinforces a shift from one-off hiring targets toward scrutiny of the full talent pipeline—recruitment, retention, and advancement—though the available data do not identify which stage is the binding constraint.
The trend: Tech’s diversity debate is moving from headline hiring pledges toward longer-term, role-specific measures of who participates in the sector’s most valuable jobs.
Women are half the U.S. workforce but only get 22% of the high-tech jobs - same share as in 2005. And yet some of the loudest old white guys in tech think the real problem is DEI https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... @naominixwrites
For over two decades, women have remained underrepresented in tech. As EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows highlights, “The representation of Black workers and women in high tech has barely moved in a generation.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... [image]
“Sixty years after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there is a high degree of underrepresentation and a disturbing lack of career advancement for female, Black, and Hispanic workers in the high tech workforce, despite the recent period of growth in high tech occupations. …
.@USEEOC's report revealing persistent underrepresentation of women and people of color in the high tech sector reinforces the importance of lawful DEIA efforts to remove barriers to opportunity. When everyone can contribute to our workplaces, we all win. https://www.washingtonpo…
New from me: At 22.6%, the share of women in the high-tech industry has barely budged over the past 2 decades, per new EEOC report. Hispanic and Black workers also underrepresented. @EEOCChair told me now is not the “time to pull back” on DEI efforts https://www.washingtonpost.co…
The high tech workforce has grown at nearly 6X the rate of the total U.S. workforce. Equal access to employment opportunities in this sector is particularly important to workers given the higher pay, stability, and projected growth of these occupations. https://www.eeoc.gov/... […
America's high tech sector, which leads the world in crafting technologies of the future, should not have a workforce that looks like the past. These data raise serious questions that deserve serious answers." - EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows https://www.eeoc.gov/...