How Tech She Can is fixing the gender imbalance in the UK tech industry

“In the UK, we have this thriving space industry,” Dr Claire Thorne, co-CEO of Tech She Can explains. “But most people on the street don’t know about this. Most schools don’t know about it, and therefore most children don’t know about it.”

The space sector is just one example of a pervasive problem the UK tech industry is facing. Companies across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are struggling with a talent shortage. In particular, too few women are building careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Thorne says: “What we see and hear is that there’s a lack of talent coming through. And then within that there’s a lack of diverse talent in all senses, and the skills coming through aren’t right.”

While the talent shortage issue doesn’t have a single cause or solution, a major factor is the lack of clear pathways from classroom to career. Young people only know about a fraction of the jobs that exist, so they tend to pick subjects based solely on what they like or have an aptitude for.

“Routes into these pathways and careers are not intentional by design,” Thorne explains. “They’re not systematic and they’re not happening at scale. We often fall into them, or we’re lucky and have a couple of minute-long conversations with somebody that sparks an interest.”

The origins of Tech She Can

Tech She Can is a charity based in the UK that’s working to inspire more children, particularly girls, to see the possibility that a job in technology can bring.

The roots of the charity can be traced back to 2017, when founder and now co-CEO Sheridan Ash was working at PwC, a multinational headquartered in London that provides accounting, auditing, and other professional services.

Ash commissioned a piece of research on gender imbalance in the technology industry. It revealed that just 27% of female, college and university-age respondents were interested in pursuing a career in technology, compared to 62% of males. In addition, only 3% of women cited technology as their first-choice career.

Organizations in the UK were shocked by these findings. The research led to the creation of The Tech She Can Charter – a commitment by member organizations to identify and tackle the root causes of the underrepresentation of women in technology roles.

Thorne joined Tech She Can in 2021 and helped the team become an independent charity in the UK. “Now we’ve got 250 member organizations across 40 sectors,” she said.

Tech She Can’s strategy: Focus on students

The team behind Tech She Can believes the key to broadening the talent pipeline is changing people’s perceptions at a young age. It’s about showing students the breadth of exciting and fulfilling job roles that exist in the technology industry – and possibly inspiring them to pursue one of these positions.

“We’re trying to tackle the problem at its source,” Thorne says. “There are lots of great initiatives but in some senses they’re just tinkering with the [talent] pipeline, particularly at the later stages.”

Tech She Can has a three-pronged strategy:

• LIVE assemblies
• A champion volunteering scheme
• Career insight days

LIVE assemblies and lessons

Tech She Can delivers LIVE assemblies and lessons to support teachers across the UK. They’re streamed over Microsoft Teams and aimed at either primary (age 5-11) or secondary school (age 11-16) students.

LIVE assemblies, as the name suggests, are suitable for large groups of children sitting in a hall or gymnasium. The LIVE lessons, meanwhile, include some interactive elements, like challenges and break-out workshops, that are more suitable in a classroom setting.

Every LIVE assembly and lesson explores how technology impacts another subject or industry that students might be interested in, like sport, music and art.

“You’re trying to get them to be tech curious and consider who’s behind the tech that they see and use every day,” Thorne explains. “We need to show that technology is inherently creative, and that it can be used for social good. Those are two main career drivers, particularly for girls.”

LIVE assemblies and lessons help Tech She Can, which is a small charity, increase its reach and impact. For example, one LIVE assembly delivered for Safer Internet Day in 2024 was watched by roughly 40,000 children. “It’s all about the breadth,” Thorne adds.

Tech She Can Champions

Tech She Can’s mission is to inspire children. What better way to do that than by introducing young people to amazing professionals who are already working in STEM-related fields?

That’s where Tech She Can’s Champions come in. These volunteers typically sign up via their employer’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, although anyone can apply through Tech She Can’s website.

Champions are given some foundational training by the STEM Ambassador program, which is funded by UK Research and Innovation, followed by practical guidance by Tech She Can and a deep dive into how to deliver the Tech We Can resources. The charity helps volunteers find a school and provides them with the tools required to deliver a lesson in-person or virtually.

“We overwhelmingly have more women volunteers,” Thorne says. “Which is fantastic because the girls and the boys get to see those female technologists.”

Career insight days

“Take your child to work day” might seem like a slightly antiquated concept as it limits students' exposure to the professions of their parents. However, it contains the kernel of a good idea. Visiting places of work can be inspiring and help children expand what they believe is possible for their own career.

Tech She Can’s spin on the concept is career insight days. The charity will take students into a company’s workplace for a first-hand look at how the technology industry operates.

“We literally bus in secondary school age girls up to 100 at a time,” Thorne says. “And they might hear from a female CTO, they’ll tour the office space, they’ll do speed networking. We change their view of what the world is and where they could possibly work.”

The impact of these days can’t be overstated, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. For example, Tech She Can ran one insight day for a group of girls who “had never been in a lift before,” Thorne explains.

“It’s really easy when we’re in the workplace every day, and we’re surrounded by working professionals and modern office environments to forget that these are experiences that some children don’t have access to,” she adds.

What the future holds for Tech She Can

1Password’s donation won’t be spent on a single project or initiative.

Instead, the money will be used to fund Tech She Can’s day-to-day expenses. That might not sound particularly exciting but, according to Thorne, it’s easily the most important. “The money essentially goes to making sure we can exist,” she says. “It covers core operating costs. It’s not project-specific or restricted funding. It’s the best kind of donation we can possibly have.”

Tech She Can knows that its current strategy works. It’s reaching children with a blend of approaches that combines exciting virtual assemblies, inspirational volunteer visits, and eye-opening tours of technology facilities. Now the goal is to increase Tech She Can’s reach and to make it a fixture of the educational experience. “We need to make this available to every child repeatedly throughout their schooling in the UK,” Thorne explains.

Tech She Can has two projects running in Coventry and Yorkshire right now where they deliver classes over multiple years. While a one-time lesson is incredibly valuable, the charity believes that repeat visits will have a compounding effect on the children.

Looking forward, Thorne would like to have more Tech She Can teachers in other towns and cities across the UK. “We should be doing this everywhere in the UK, otherwise we’re just not going to close the tech skills gap,” she says.

If you would like to support Tech She Can’s work or become a volunteer champion, check out the charity’s website.

Nick Summers

Content Marketing Manager