Why aren’t there more women working in tech? For all the hiring pledges, networking initiatives, and one-on-one mentoring programs, women hold 30 percent of tech jobs worldwide—even though they make up half the global population.

The implications of having a more representative workforce are straightforward: It can reduce unintended disparities and increase the prospect that the benefits of technology will be widely shared.

There’s another concern. Tech is expected to add workers at a faster rate than many other major job categories during the next eight years, suggesting that today’s mass layoffs are a temporary blip. If business leaders and policymakers don’t find ways to accelerate efforts to diversify the sector, then women—and other underrepresented groups—will continue to lose out on tech’s high-paying jobs.

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