Women Pivoting to Digital
The Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce brings employers, government, and third sector organisations together to tackle digital talent shortages in the UK by promoting mid-career female career changers as an untapped talent solution.
The aim of the Taskforce is to help businesses fill talent gaps while also addressing the underrepresentation of women working in digital careers by providing them with vital skills to future-proof the digital workforce.
Want to get the most up-to-date information on the Taskforce? Visit our main webpage on The Global City.
Running for two years from April 2024, the Taskforce focuses on women and non-binary people with five or more years of non-technical workforce experience, helping them transition into digital and tech roles across financial and professional services and the tech sector.
Why this matters
Employers face persistent digital skills shortages that limit productivity and growth. Unfilled digital roles cost the UK billions each year, as reported by techUK. At the same time, women remain underrepresented at mid-career level. A Deloitte 2023 report shows only 14% of women in tech roles are at mid-career. In AI and data science, women make up less than 25% of the workforce, according to the Alan Turing Institute.
According to Makers, a training provider for digital roles, if we wait for girls to come through traditional university pathways, it would take 50 years to achieve gender equity in the digital workforce.
The opportunity
Mid-career women bring in-demand transferable skills such as communication, stakeholder management and sector expertise. Reskilling and upskilling this talent boosts retention, employee satisfaction and loyalty. Bringing diverse experience into product development and design leads to more inclusive solutions and innovation. Building new digital skills also helps counter the impact of automation and AI, which disproportionately affects women.
This Taskforce coordinates practical action so organisations can attract, support and advance this talent into digital roles.