Women in tech are still seeing their career growth hindered by the ‘motherhood penalty’, a new report has found.

According to Women in Digital (WiD), women across tech are still experiencing a stall in their job momentum when they reach mid-career — the same time many are starting a family.

“The motherhood penalty hasn’t gone away, it’s just changed shape,” said Holly Hunt, CEO and founder of WiD.

The report’s findings show that despite flexible work being adopted broadly by employers, with 77 per cent offering hybrid and remote arrangements, this hasn’t translated into meaningful change for the technology sector’s gender parity.

“This isn’t about women lacking confidence, it’s about the systems and cultures that still hinder progression,” Hunt explained.

“There is a lingering culture of presenteeism, where visibility and after-hours engagement are still seen as prerequisites for advancement, which disproportionately disadvantages caregivers.”

The WiD report found almost 50 per cent of women in tech believe starting a family will curtail their career, while 38 per cent think it will have a negative impact on their salary and earning potential.

Further, more than a third of women surveyed said their careers had already been negatively affected by school hours.

These findings are supported by recent data from recruiter Hays, which revealed men are overrepresented in senior and high-salary positions, outnumbering women two-to-one.

Widespread gaps in pay and parity

The WiD findings come hot on the heels of a new gender employment report released by Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), which found men earn more than women in 98 per cent of occupations.

According to the report, almost 70 per cent of jobs have had the same level of gender segregation since 2006, and only one in five Aussies work in gender-balanced occupations.

In tech, women are still massively underrepresented and woefully underpaid.

Of the 14 ICT occupations examined, 11 were classed as moderately or highly male dominated.

Software engineering was also listed as a highly male-dominated profession, while computer network and systems engineering was almost completely male dominated.

When it comes to earnings, the motherhood penalty was clearly on display, with JSA making use of a new metric to measure the accumulated gap in earnings between male and female workers over 10 years.

While women between 40 and 54 years of age had the largest static pay gap of nearly 30 per cent, women aged 25 to 39 had the most significant 10-year pay gap and the worst economic outcomes.

The outlook is even more dire for First Nations women, who experience Australia’s widest pay gap.

Equality the key to future success

According to ACS’s 2025 Digital Pulse report, Australia needs 230,000 more tech workers by 2030 to meet rapidly increasing demand.

Yet the JSA report found occupations with less gender diversity, particularly those dominated by men — like tech — experience more workplace shortages.

This adds to the growing body of evidence that addressing gender inequality and making more space for women in the sector will be a key step to overcoming the looming talent shortage.

Tesla chair and Tech Council of Australia board member Robyn Denholm said a diverse workforce is more than a ‘nice-to-have’, stating, “When we talk about diversity, we’re really talking about better outcomes.”

“Whether it’s diversity of background, experience or perspective, it leads to stronger teams, better decisions and greater innovation,” she added.

Minister for Women Katy Gallagher said that by exacerbating skill shortages, gender inequality is holding back the Australian economy.

“The impact of our industry gender segregation is translating into real consequences for Australian families — longer waits to get a house built, expensive tradie bills and stretched services everywhere from hospitals to aged care facilities,” Gallagher explained.

“With evidence like this, addressing workforce segregation should be an economic priority for government and the parliament more broadly.”

Some steps have already been taken to address this issue, with the government introducing new gender equality targets for companies with over 500 staff in April this year.