Eurostat report shows female workforce in the high-tech sector still lagging across Europe

The Regions in Europe 2023, an interactive publication recently released by Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), shows the state of equality and opportunity for women in technology sectors across the European Union.

In 2022, high-technology sectors were crucial for economic growth, employing 9.8 million people in the EU and accounting for 4.9% of total employment. However, there was a gender disparity, with men comprising 67.2% of the workforce in this sector.

The French and Spanish capital regions, Ile-de-France and Comunidad de Madrid, led high-tech employment, with 420,000 and 289,000 workers, respectively. Additionally, three regions in Germany, Italy, and Spain had over 200,000 employees in high-technology sectors. Conversely, five regions, including Molise in Italy and various Greek regions, had fewer than 3,000 employees in this sector.

Women constituted 32.8% of high-tech employment in the EU in 2022. Notably, Nyugat-Dunántúl in Hungary had the highest female representation at 50.2%, making it the only region in the EU where women outnumbered men in high-technology sectors. The Italian region of Marche (48.6%) and another Hungarian region, Észak-Magyarország (48.1%), followed with the next highest female employment shares in this sector. Conversely, Thessalia in Greece had the lowest representation of women at 8.3%.

Why does it matter?

This imbalance of the female workforce in the high-technology sector underscores the importance of implementing policies and initiatives to promote equal opportunities for women in the tech domain.