The tech industry has a gender problem and telecoms sits right in the middle of it. Despite women making up for roughly a quarter of the sector’s workforce, that share drops right off when you look at senior engineering and technical roles.
It’s hardly a new story but while roundtables and pledges have been rolling out for the better part of a decade, telecoms companies are finally starting to write the story a bit differently.
Part of that shift comes down to necessity because if you look at the industry, it’s clear to see that it’s in the middle of a serious skills crunch. 5G rollouts, fibre expansion, AI integration and cyber security demands are all pulling from the same talent pool. And if you’re only recruiting from half the population, it’s not really a workable long-term plan.
Naturally, how this looks in practice will differ from one operator to the next. We’re seeing apprenticeships and early career programmes being redesigned to attract a broader mix of candidates. Meanwhile, sponsorship and leadership development schemes are focusing on that mid-career drop-off that’s cost the industry so much talent over the years.
Flexible Working Does More Than Any Recruitment Drive
Keeping women in technical roles long enough to be able to reach senior positions is where telecoms has historically fallen down. By the time women are close to these positions, they’re facing the societal pressure to have children and raise families.
However, flexible working is one way of having women fulfil these roles while still being able to manage their personal lives at the same time. Hybrid arrangements and compressed weeks have made a noticeable difference to retention figures.
It sounds almost too simple, but most of the drop-off around the mid-career mark comes down to roles being built around the assumption that someone else was handling everything at home. Finally, that assumption is being questioned.
Our Experts
- Shelli Brunswick: CEO & Founder of SB Global LLC
- Sinan Isoglu: Commercial Growth Leader, Lecturer and Researcher
Shelli Brunswick, CEO & Founder of SB Global LLC
“Telecom companies are addressing the gender gap through early-career outreach, skills development, mentoring, employee networks, and greater scrutiny of pay and promotion. Ericsson supports Girls in ICT activities and technology training, while Nokia’s StrongHer network focuses on women’s growth and advancement, alongside company efforts to monitor pay equity. These initiatives matter, but closing the gap requires moving from individual programs to sustained talent pathways.
In space and telecommunications, infrastructure is only as strong as the people who imagine, build, operate, and improve it. A Space Mindset therefore treats talent as strategic infrastructure. Companies should measure not only how many women they recruit, but where women enter the organisation, whether they remain, who receives sponsorship and consequential assignments, and how many advance into technical, operational, and decision-making roles.
Progress also requires widening entry routes through apprenticeships, returnships, cross-disciplinary recruitment, and partnerships with schools and universities. Visible role models can inspire women to enter the field; sponsors, transparent promotion criteria, flexible workplace design, and accountable leaders enable them to succeed.
Telecoms connect people, industries, and economies. To build an inclusive digital future, companies must ensure women are not only consumers of connectivity, but architects and leaders of the systems shaping our future.”
Sinan Isoglu, Commercial Growth Leader, Lecturer and Researcher
“Telecoms infrastructure has historically suffered from high entry barriers and steep mid-career drop-offs for female talent. Closing this gap requires shifting from recruitment pledges to structural progression frameworks.
Leading operators are addressing this in three concrete ways:
First, replacing informal promotion pipelines with objective, capability-based advancement gates. Unambiguous criteria remove subjective evaluation bias from technical promotions.
Second, pairing technical sponsorship with cross-functional rotational tracks. Telecoms networks are increasingly software-defined and data-driven; providing early-career female engineers with direct access to commercial RevOps and network architecture broadens their runway to executive leadership.
Third, designing deliberate return-to-work architecture. Telecoms requires continuous technical upskilling. Firms offering structured ramp-up periods and flexible operational models successfully retain high-performing senior technical leaders who might otherwise exit the industry.
Ultimately, pipeline diversity is only as durable as a company’s retention mechanics. Fixing the middle of the funnel is where the real commercial impact happens.”
