The structural gap

Representation drops in the most technical roles (McKinsey and Eightfold AI, Europe, 2022 data):

Bias and governance

A UNESCO study published in March 2024 found that large language models associated female names with words such as "home", "family" and "children", and male names with "business", "executive", "salary" and "career" (UNESCO).

For Women in Code, AI built by teams with few women is more likely to carry blind spots into product assumptions, datasets and safety choices.

The economic stakes

McKinsey estimates a tech talent gap of 1.4 to 3.9 million people by 2027 in the EU-27. Doubling the share of women in tech to about 45%, around 3.9 million more women, could close that gap and add up to €260 to €600 billion to GDP.

In France, the Rixain law has required at least 30% of each sex among senior executives in companies with 1,000 or more employees since 1 March 2026, rising to 40% on 1 March 2029.

Four levers

• Train: access to AI skills with real project practice.
• Mentor: peer and senior support.
• Connect: local and international chapters.
• Govern: diversity metrics built into AI governance.

Take action

Are you a woman in tech? Join the community.

Leading an AI team? Become a partner.

1. The timeline

• 1 March 2026: at least 30% of each sex among senior executives and among members of governing bodies.
• 1 March 2029: the threshold rises to 40%.
• From 1 March 2029, a company below the threshold has two years to comply. Otherwise it faces a penalty of up to 1% of the pay it distributed in the previous year.
• Companies also have to publish their gender representation gaps every year.

2. Where large companies stand

At the end of 2024, according to BCG, half of CAC 40 companies already met the 2026 threshold in their executive committee, as did 47% of SBF 120 companies (BCG, December 2024).

3. Compliance checklist

• Audit the composition of your leadership and publish targets.
• Build a succession plan that includes women candidates.
• Track pay gaps and promotion rates every quarter.
• Report progress internally and to investors.

Prepare your leadership pipeline

Looking for executive talent? Partner with Women in Code.

Ready to lead? Join the leadership network.

1. Benchmarks to frame your ask

The European average salary covers every sector. For a specific tech role, add the company's pay grid and salary surveys from your sector.

Insee notes that the comparable-job gap covers only part of all establishments and does not, on its own, measure discrimination.

2. What to say in the interview

Two traps to avoid: sharing your previous salary and accepting the first offer without discussion.

The recruiter asks for your expectations

"Based on my market research for a role with this technical level [name the stack] and these responsibilities, I am targeting a range between [your high target] and [your high target + €5,000], depending on the overall package (profit-sharing, remote work, benefits)."

The offer is too low

"Thank you for the offer, I am excited about joining the team. The base salary of [offer] is below market for my skills in [rare skill]. To sign this week, I would be comfortable with [your target]. Can we get closer to that figure or adjust the variable pay or a signing bonus?"

3. What to negotiate when the base is fixed

If the base salary follows a grid, negotiate the rest:

• Signing bonus.
• Remote work: frequency and flexibility.
• BSPCE (French founder share warrants), common in startups.
• Annual training budget.

Get negotiation support

Join the community and access negotiation benchmarks.

1. Benchmarks

2. Kenya, Africa's top tech market in 2025

According to Partech, Kenya led capital raised by African tech in 2025, with $1.04 billion, up 72% year on year.

3. Lessons proposed by Women in Code

• Value demonstrated skills as much as degrees.
• Support peer communities and mentoring.
• Present tech as a tool for impact (energy, climate, health) to attract other profiles.
• Open pre-seed programmes reserved for women founders.

Build the bridge

Partner on international programmes.

Join a local chapter.

What LinkedIn data shows

In the United States, according to 2023 LinkedIn data cited by the World Economic Forum in March 2025, 57% of people whose jobs are likely to be disrupted by generative AI are women (43% men). Conversely, women make up only 46% of people whose work is expected to be augmented by generative AI, against 54% men (WEF, 2025).

These figures are global or American. They point to a trend worth watching in France.

Key indicators

Skills to build

Skills sought in AI-exposed occupations change fast. The most useful ones to work on: writing prompts for AI tools, data visualisation and ethical auditing of models.

Reskill at scale

Access AI training and mentoring.

Partner on AI workforce programmes.

1. Where to look for funding

Do not spend your time or your cash pitching to funds that do not invest at your stage or in your sector. A few players to know:

2. Promotion or prevention questions

In investor meetings, questions can focus on promotion ("How will you win?") or on prevention ("How will you avoid losing?"). When you get a prevention question, reframe it to bring the discussion back to growth.

Example: if someone asks "What if Google copies you?", you can answer "That would validate the market. Here is why our execution will be faster thanks to our community..."

3. Before a pre-seed raise

• A short, clear deck: problem, solution, market size (TAM, SAM, SOM), business model, team, amount sought.
• Introductions: prefer a referral (LinkedIn, Women in Code alumnae, a founder from the fund's portfolio) to a cold message.
• Your metrics, even small ones: customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), churn. Knowing them by heart reassures investors about your management.

Close the gap

Are you a founder? Join the funding network.

Are you an investor? Partner on parity-focused capital.

1. The parity stakes in France

In 2023, women held 24% of jobs in digital occupations, against 50% on average in other occupations (Insee, 2025).

For startups, the French Tech Parity Pact (March 2023) counted 14 women co-founders and CEOs in the French Tech 120, and no woman leading a Next40 company. Signatory companies commit to at least 20% women on their board by 2025, then 40% by 2028 (La French Tech).

The Rixain law: what applies

At the end of 2024, according to BCG, half of CAC 40 companies already met the 2026 threshold in their executive committee, as did 47% of SBF 120 companies (BCG, December 2024).

2. Hiring: skills and degrees

The talent pool shrinks early. In Europe, the share of girls in STEM drops by 18 percentage points at the move to university, and only 23% of women STEM graduates end up in tech roles, against 44% of men (McKinsey, 2023).

For Women in Code, skills-based hiring is a way in for career switchers.

3. Europe: the Digital Decade

The European Union targets 20 million ICT specialists by 2030 (European Commission). In 2024, women made up 19.5% of ICT specialists in the EU.

4. Pay transparency: where does France stand?

Directive (EU) 2023/970 set 7 June 2026 as the transposition deadline. In France, the bill was presented to the Council of Ministers on 10 September 2026 and still has to go through the Senate and the National Assembly (service-public.fr). According to the official presentation of the bill:

• employers will have to tell candidates the proposed pay or its range;
• they will no longer be allowed to ask about current or past pay;
• any clause banning employees from disclosing their own pay will be prohibited;
• employees will get a stronger right to information on their pay and on average pay levels in their job category.

The directive also provides for a joint pay assessment when an average gap of at least 5% is neither justified nor corrected within six months, and for a shift in the burden of proof in favour of employees (Directive 2023/970).

5. Where women are least present

In Europe, the share of women varies widely by tech role (McKinsey and Eightfold AI, over one million profiles, 2022 data):

In software engineering, women make up 19% of the workforce, but only 10% of cloud solution architects and 13% of Python developers.

6. Career questions

Career switch and entry into the sector

• "Is it possible to become a developer at 30 or 40 without a science background?"
• "Bootcamp or master's: which training really leads to a job in 2026?"
• "Why am I pushed toward front-end when I want to work on systems?"
• "How do I overcome impostor syndrome in my first role?"

Growth, leadership and negotiation

• "Why are my lead dev promotion requests ignored despite my results?"
• "How can I use pay transparency to negotiate my salary?"
• "How do I find a technical mentor to aim for a CTO role?"

Work culture and sexism

• "How do I respond to misogynistic comments from younger colleagues?"
• "Why do my male colleagues double-check my code?"
• "Is it realistic to be a lead dev and fully remote after maternity leave?"

7. Funding and entrepreneurship

In France, in 2025, startups founded only by women accounted for 9% of companies created, 6% of funding rounds and 1% of the amounts raised (SISTA x BCG).

In the United States, a BCG study published in 2018 with the MassChallenge accelerator found $0.78 of revenue per dollar raised for startups founded or co-founded by women, against $0.31 for those founded by men. These startups had raised $935,000 on average, against $2.1 million (MassChallenge).

SISTA and 50inTech work on transparency, bias audits and introductions between women founders and investors.

8. Priority skills

• Cybersecurity: around 15,000 specialists are missing in France today (info.gouv.fr).
• Responsible digital: frugal AI, multi-criteria measurement, Green IT.

9. Mentoring, visibility and negotiation

• Duchess France, Femmes & Sciences, Willa: mentoring and networks.
• Pay transparency: a data-based foundation for negotiation once the French law is in force.
• Open source and public speaking: visibility and technical credibility.

Conclusion

In France, the Rixain law requires large companies to move more women into leadership roles. The French pay transparency law, once adopted, will give employees new rights to information about their pay.

1. Why the market needs women career switchers

1.1. A narrow traditional pipeline

In Europe, the share of girls in STEM drops by 18 percentage points at the move to university (McKinsey, 2022 data). Engineering schools alone are not enough: people from business, law, health or the humanities can join tech too.

1.2. Skills-based hiring

In skills-based hiring, employers look at your evidence as much as your degree:

• project experience;
• a GitHub, data or product portfolio;
• technical certifications;
• the ability to learn fast.

For a woman switching careers, it is a chance to add a technical layer to solid professional experience. At 30 or 40, your maturity and domain knowledge count, as long as your technical skills are visible.

2. "30-40: is it too late?"

2.1. Age is not the real blocker

Focus on two concrete blockers: lack of hands-on practice and no clear specialisation (front, back, data, product, cyber).

2.2. What you bring at 30-40

• Relational maturity and conflict management.
• Domain expertise (health, law, HR, marketing...).
• The ability to take hybrid roles (product, data, compliance).

3. Bootcamp, professional title or master's: what to choose in 2026?

3.1. The three main pathways

• Bootcamps (3 to 9 months): fast and practical, they require strong projects outside the programme.
• Professional titles (6 to 24 months): longer, often fundable (CPF, France Travail), good for securing your path.
• Master's and engineering schools: heavier, relevant for some large companies or advanced profiles.

3.2. How to choose

• Time horizon: 3 to 6 months → bootcamp and projects; 12 to 24 months → longer programme.
• Education level: high school or two-year degree → professional titles; master's level → targeted training and projects.
• Specialisation: data, AI and cyber often require a stronger foundation.

4. Do not get boxed into front-end

Stereotypes remain strong ("front-end for women, infrastructure for men"). European data shows a very uneven split by role (McKinsey and Eightfold AI, 2022 data):

If you aim for back-end, systems, cloud or cyber, position yourself early, choose the right pathway and build concrete projects (APIs, deployments, containers, pipelines).

5. Too many juniors or a talent shortage?

• Saturation: junior profiles without specialisation or visible projects.
• Shortage: applied data and AI, cybersecurity (around 15,000 specialists missing in France today, according to the French government), cloud, DevSecOps.

A generic career switch is risky. A switch aimed at a role in demand, with a 6 to 12 month plan, improves your chances of getting hired.

6. A 6 to 12 month career switch plan

Step 1: diagnosis (1 to 2 weeks)

• Your current job, soft skills and personal constraints.
• What you want to avoid (front-end only, customer-facing work, etc.).

Step 2: choose the target role (2 to 4 weeks)

• Marketing or communication → UX, product, data marketing, growth and AI.
• Law or compliance → legal tech, responsible AI, data governance, cyber and GDPR.
• Health, social work or education → health data, health product, applied AI, Green IT.

Step 3: training and funding (0 to 3 months)

• CPF, France Travail, regional funding, programmes for women.
• Check the technical content, the concrete projects and the job support.

Step 4: evidence of skills (3 to 9 months)

• 2 or 3 concrete projects (deployed app, data pipeline, small AI project, security proof of concept).
• A clean GitHub or portfolio.
• A community: Women in Code, hackathons, open source.

Step 5: entering the market

• Present your career switch as a step up in skills.
• Target companies already committed to parity.
• Negotiate with sourced salary benchmarks.

7. The role of Women in Code

• Clarify your project and choose your specialisation.
• Access mentoring, negotiation benchmarks and roles in demand.

1. Where women are present, where the gap is widest

Share of women by tech role family, European companies (McKinsey and Eightfold AI, 2022 data):

2. Where the market is hiring in 2026

• Cybersecurity: around 15,000 specialists are missing in France today.
• Cloud and DevSecOps, AI and data applied to a business domain: role families where hybrid profiles are sought after.

3. How to choose your role

• What you enjoy doing every day (code, data, product, security).
• The effort required (maths, systems, certifications).
• The roles companies are actually hiring for.
• What makes you unique (original profession, sector expertise).

4. Some effective paths

• Marketing or communication: data marketing, product, growth and AI.
• Law or compliance: cyber, GDPR, data governance, responsible AI.
• Health or social work: health data, health product, applied AI.
• Management or HR: product ops, people analytics, process automation.

1. The diagnosis

When fewer women become managers, there are fewer women candidates for the next levels: the gap carries over at every step, and women never catch up (Women in the Workplace 2022).

2. What a lead or manager role really requires

• Technical: quality standards, architecture trade-offs, technical steering.
• Team: feedback, coaching, hiring, conflict resolution.
• Strategy: dialogue with product, priorities, long-term vision.

You may already be doing part of this work without the title or the recognition.

3. Step 1: document your leadership

• Keep a log of your decisions and their impact (projects, incidents avoided, onboarding new hires).
• Map that evidence to internal promotion criteria.
• Turn invisible work into visible proof.

4. Step 2: find a sponsor

• A sponsor speaks up for you when you are not in the room and pushes your case.
• Set a clear horizon (12 to 18 months) and concrete criteria.
• Ask for formal checkpoints and a written record.

5. Step 3: gain visibility without burning out

• Choose one or two visible stages (RFC, demo, internal talk).
• Turn down coordination tasks that do not count toward promotion.
• Take on a technical project that carries your signature.

6. Use the legal context

Since 1 March 2026, companies with at least 1,000 employees must have at least 30% of each sex among their senior executives and members of their governing bodies, rising to 40% on 1 March 2029 (Rixain law, Légifrance). These companies need women ready to take on responsibility: prepare your case and ask for a written progression plan.

1. What the French bill provides

According to the official presentation of the bill:

• employers will have to tell candidates the proposed pay or its range;
• they will no longer be allowed to ask about current or past pay;
• any clause banning employees from disclosing their own pay will be prohibited;
• employees will get a stronger right to information on their pay and on average pay levels in their job category.

Company obligations will vary with headcount. The directive also provides for a joint pay assessment when an average gap of at least 5% is neither justified nor corrected within six months, and for a shift in the burden of proof in favour of employees (Directive 2023/970).

2. Prepare a data-based negotiation

• Market: gather external benchmarks (Apec, salary surveys in your sector).
• Internal: ask for average pay levels by sex once the French law is in force.
• Impact: document your projects, responsibilities and measurable results.
• Ask: set a realistic target and a deadline.

3. If the answer is vague or negative

• Ask for a written justification based on objective criteria.
• Compare with the internal data published.
• Consider an action plan or leaving.

1. Where Europe stands: key figures

• Women hold 22% of tech roles in European companies (McKinsey, 2022 data). At the current pace, McKinsey expects a decline to 21% by 2027.
• Among ICT specialists (Eurostat category), they made up 19.5% in 2024.
• EU target: 20 million ICT specialists by 2030 (Digital Decade).

2. Breakdown by role family

Source: McKinsey and Eightfold AI, over one million profiles, 2022 data.

3. Growing roles have few women

Among the most in-demand tech roles, McKinsey finds low shares of women: 10% of cloud solution architects and 13% of Python developers, while women make up 19% of software engineering.

4. Digital Decade: the 2026-2030 window

The European target covers the number of ICT specialists and upskilling. For Women in Code, women's participation, through initial education and career switching, is the variable that will decide whether the target is met.

1. Pay gaps in France

Source: Insee Focus no. 377, February 2026. The comparable-job gap covers only part of all establishments and does not, on its own, measure discrimination.

2. What Directive 2023/970 changes

• The proposed pay or its range is shared with candidates, in the job ad or before the interview.
• Pay secrecy clauses are banned.
• Employees can access average pay levels, by sex, for the same work or work of equal value.
• Companies publish gap reports on a timetable that depends on their size.
• A joint pay assessment is required when an average gap of at least 5% is neither justified nor corrected within six months.
• The burden of proof shifts in favour of employees in disputes.

In France, these rules will apply through the transposition law, still under discussion in Parliament.

3. Women in Code negotiation plan

• Gather external benchmarks (Apec, salary surveys in your sector).
• Ask for internal data by sex once the French law is in force.
• Document your impact (projects, results, leadership).
• Make a clear request, with a target and a deadline.

Email template, to use once the French law is in force

Subject: request for information on my pay. I would like to know my current pay and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, for my role or for work of equal value, in line with the pay transparency rules in force.

1. The first rung

In the North American companies studied by McKinsey and LeanIn.Org, 87 women were promoted to manager for every 100 men in 2022. With fewer women managers, there are fewer women candidates for the next levels (Women in the Workplace 2022).

2. What holds back the move into management

• Invisible work (mentoring, coordination, onboarding new hires) gets little recognition.
• Promotion criteria remain vague.
• Women are less often backed by a sponsor when they apply.

3. What companies should do

• Make the criteria for the first management promotion explicit.
• Measure promotion rates by sex and correct the gaps.
• Formally recognise coordination work.
• Set up structured sponsorship.

1. The map of roles in Europe

2. Why these gaps matter

Several of the most in-demand roles have very few women: they make up 19% of software engineering, but only 10% of cloud solution architects and 13% of Python developers (McKinsey).

3. Pathways proposed by Women in Code

• UX → product → data → AI or platform.
• Data → MLOps or data engineering → cloud.
• Development → SRE or DevSecOps → architecture.

1. What the study says

These figures cover startups that went through MassChallenge and date from 2018: the women founders received less funding while generating more revenue per dollar raised.

2. Women in Code action plan

• Build your pitch around revenue and unit economics.
• Diversify the investors you meet: funds dedicated to women founders, business angels, corporate venture funds.
• Seek access to fund investors (LPs) and investment committee members.

1. The age-35 wall

According to the Accenture and Girls Who Code survey, conducted in the United States in 2019, company culture is the leading reason cited for women leaving tech (37% of respondents).

2. The broken rung speeds up exits

The first management role is the bottleneck: 87 women promoted for every 100 men in 2022. With fewer women managers, the gap carries over at every level.

3. Retention plan

• Support programmes for new managers and targeted sponsorship.
• Recognition of invisible work (mentoring, coordination).
• Real flexibility during the busiest periods of life.

1. Two rankings, two methods

Launch Base Africa counts about $3.1 billion raised in 2025, debt included (nearly 45% of the total). Its country ranking (Ecofin, January 2026):

The totals differ from Partech's because the two trackers use different methods. Both put Kenya first by amount raised.

2. Record debt in 2025

• Partech counts $1.6 billion in debt, up 63% year on year, or 41% of all capital.
• 107 debt deals, against 77 in 2024.

3. Women in Code ideas for Africa

• Target the main hubs: Nairobi, Cape Town, Cairo, Lagos.
• Prepare a debt strategy: unit economics, recurring revenue, controlled capital spending.
• Focus on energy, infrastructure and regulated fintech, which interest lenders.

1. A rebound in 2025

• 2024: $754 million raised (TechCabal Insights).
• January to November 2025: about $1.1 billion.
• 2025 total, revised in March 2026: $1.18 billion.

Amounts vary between trackers depending on method and publication date: always state the source and the period when you quote a figure.

2. Women in Code ideas for Africa

• Specialise in distributed energy, adaptation and climate infrastructure.
• Connect with the Nairobi, Lagos and Cape Town hubs to reach investors.
• Build tech and impact career paths to capture climate funding.

1. The funding gap

• 10% of equity funding raised in 2025 went to startups founded by women.
• These startups accounted for 19% of equity deals, a share that rose year on year according to Partech.

2. More women among investors, little money for women founders

Source: AVCA, "Gender Diversity in African Private Capital".

3. Initiatives to know

• UNESCO, AWITAI project (African Women in Tech and AI): target of 150 women entrepreneurs trained; 34 women from 11 countries trained in 2023, then 80 women from 28 countries in 2024.
• She Code Africa: a community of women in tech in Africa, with mentoring programmes.
• AWIEF: a pan-African forum dedicated to women's entrepreneurship.

4. Women in Code ideas for Africa

• Apply for non-dilutive grants offered by corporate and foundation programmes.
• Use mentoring to speed up your path.
• Target funds that include gender in their investment criteria.