A new report published today by the City of London Corporation’s Women Pivoting to Digital Taskforce reveals mid-career women are being locked out of digital roles due to rigid hiring practices in the technology and financial and professional services sectors, driving skills shortages and costing the UK economy billions of pounds in lost productivity.
The research finds that more than 12,100 digital vacancies went unfilled across these sectors in 2024, wiping nearly £1 billion from UK economic growth and cutting almost £300 million from firms’ bottom lines.
The Taskforce found, if current trends continue, the UK economy could miss out on £10.8 billion in growth over the next decade, with firms losing an estimated £3.3 billion in profits.
Findings revealed that rigid CV screening practices, including penalties for caring-related career gaps, automated recruitment tools, and narrow definitions of relevant experience, are sidelining mid-career women, despite acute demand for digital skills.
Women remain underrepresented in digital roles in these sectors, even as their existing jobs are more likely to be affected by automation and AI.
Elizabeth Anderson, CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, said, “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 Mid-career women are being locked out of digital roles not because they lack ability, but because outdated CV screening penalises caring-related gaps and narrowly defines what ‘relevant’ experience looks like.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.”
Without intervention, severance costs to firms could amount to as much as £757 million as AI and automation disproportionately displace women’s roles. Re-skilling mid-career women, defined in the report as those with five years’ experience or more, offers a clear solution, enabling employers to fill digital vacancies, protect workers from displacement and save employers nearly £50,000 per employee compared with making roles redundant.
Digital roles require continuous upskilling and for employers to shift away from rigid hiring criteria and instead assess candidates on skills, potential and adaptability. The research urges employers to make better use of women completing publicly funded digital bootcamps, alongside investing in targeted training to support alternative pathways into digital careers.
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.
Some employers are already demonstrating the benefits of skills-based hiring and investment in training, filling digital roles more quickly and achieving stronger long-term workforce outcomes. The report concludes that reskilling mid-career women is not only critical to closing digital skills gaps, but essential to safeguarding economic growth and ensuring the benefits of digital transformation are shared more widely across the workforce.
Sheila Flavell, CBE, COO of FDM Group, said, “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.”
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