A report from the City of London Corporation’s ‘Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce‘ highlights a £3 billion economic opportunity for UK businesses if they invest in untapped digital talent pools, including mid-career women transitioning into digital roles.
As International Women’s Day highlights the need to accelerate gender equality in the workplace, the findings underline the economic risks of excluding women from the UK’s digital transformation.
The ‘Untapped Digital Talent: the £3bn Opportunity‘ report urges employers to rethink how they approach the UK’s digital skills shortage. It highlights how improving access to digital careers for women at mid-career could strengthen gender representation in technology while helping businesses meet growing demand for specialist digital skills.
Drawing on employer insights and industry data, the report finds that skills shortages in areas such as AI, data, cyber security, and software development are already constraining productivity and weakening the UK’s global competitiveness.
Despite rising demand for talent, women remain significantly underrepresented in the sector and currently make up less than 20% of the digital workforce, even though many possess transferable skills that are highly relevant to these roles.
Sheila Flavell, CBE, COO of FDM Group, commented: “This report highlights the critical issue that technologies such as AI are reshaping the workforce, and women, particularly mid-career women, are being left behind due to rigid hiring practices. Not only is the risk of economic cost staggering, but so too is the missed opportunity for businesses to access untapped talent.
Upskilling and reskilling women in digital skills must be a priority. From supporting women through early education to providing clear pathways into technical and leadership roles, businesses and government need to work together to invest in training that equips women with in-demand digital and AI skills. Not only does this protect women against displacement from automation, but it also strengthens the UK workforce, drives innovation, and safeguards billions in economic growth.
By prioritising reskilling over redundancy, we can ensure women are not sidelined, businesses save costs, and the economy benefits from a fully inclusive, digitally capable workforce.
The scale of the challenge is already visible across key sectors. In 2024, 12,100 digital roles across financial services, professional services, and technology went unfilled, costing the UK economy nearly £1 billion in Gross Value Added and £296 million in lost profits. If the digital talent gap persists, the report estimates the UK could lose £10.8 billion in productivity and £3.3 billion in profits over the next decade.
At the same time, the rise of AI and automation could significantly reshape the labour market. By 2035, hundreds of thousands of women’s jobs could be displaced and, without large-scale reskilling initiatives, businesses could face up to £757 million in severance costs.
The report argues that employers can address both challenges by investing in reskilling programmes and hiring from non-traditional talent pathways, particularly by supporting mid-career women to pivot into digital roles and unlocking a major new source of talent for the UK economy.
Linda Benjamin, VP of Product Development at AND Digital, commented: “Rigid hiring practices are sidelining highly capable women at exactly the moment their skills are most needed. Despite years of experience and strong adaptability, women are still forced to ‘prove it again’ through narrower performance metrics and biased definitions of experience, often breaking through one ceiling only to encounter another.
“Reskilling women represents one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to close digital vacancies, protect roles from AI disruption, and retain institutional knowledge. But progress cannot stop at hiring alone. Organisations must also expand access to sponsorship and create fair leadership pathways that enable women to pivot into emerging areas like AI.”
Elizabeth Anderson, CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, commented: “Rigid hiring practices are creating a less visible but deeply damaging form of digital exclusion. Mid-career women are being locked out of digital roles not because they lack ability, but because outdated CV screening penalises caring-related gaps and narrowly defines what ‘relevant’ experience looks like. This exclusion does not just affect individuals; it weakens the digital resilience of the workforce as a whole.
“As AI and automation accelerate, the risk of exclusion grows. Women who are already overlooked by rigid hiring processes are also more likely to be displaced by technological change, and less likely to be offered the reskilling needed to stay connected to the digital economy. When that happens at scale, exclusion becomes systemic, leaving talent unused, vacancies unfilled, and firms exposed to significant costs.
“Digital inclusion cannot stop at access to devices or connectivity; it must extend to who is allowed to participate in digital work. That means modernising hiring practices, valuing transferable skills, and treating reskilling as essential infrastructure. Without that shift, we will continue to exclude capable women from digital opportunity and continue to undermine economic growth as a result.”
