Women are making strides in the technology industry, but there is more to be desired in terms of access and opportunity.
Nile Dixon, data scientist for the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, unveiled the findings of the “State of Women in Technology” report Friday at Gradient, a downtown Tulsa coworking space.
The study was produced in collaboration with Women In Technology of Tulsa, a nonprofit dedicated to helping women embrace tech careers, and Tulsa for You and Me, a George Kaiser Family Foundation initiative that helps showcase career opportunities.
Between 2010 and 2024, the number of women in technology occupations increased from 2,541 to 3,740. Women accounted for 65% of net tech workforce growth from 2019 to 2024. Still, women only represent 30% of Tulsa’s tech workforce, and men are more than twice as likely to work in a technology role.
“As tech becomes a more integrated part of our economy, we need to make sure that we’re ensuring that all of those opportunities are equally accessed by everybody who wants to be involved in technology,” Dixon said.
The report highlights barriers across the talent pipeline, including limited early exposure to technology careers, low participation in school computer science coursework and underrepresentation in postsecondary computer science.
Dixon explained industries such as retail, utilities and finance are beginning to require more technology use, making tech competency more important for people pursuing those careers.
“If we’re seeing that gap in tech occupation participation, it could be due to the fact that they’re not pursuing careers or majors that directly connect them early on to those types of occupations,” he said.
Tulsa is in a unique spot in its relationship with technology. In 2024, the city became a federally designated tech hub through a $51 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. At the same time, Tulsa has invested and advocated for growth in drone, aerospace and autonomous tech.
Attendees at Friday’s event featured dozens of women working in tech who wondered how to help create a world where women are encouraged to enter tech fields at an early age.
That starts with increasing the amount of opportunity in K-12 schools, which Dixon highlighted Oklahoma is already doing.
In the 2024-25 academic year, the state began requiring schools to offer at least one standard computer science class. In Oklahoma, 72% of middle schools and high schools have a computer science class compared to 60% for the national average.
The problem, Dixon said, is there is only a one percentage point difference between the actual average in participation in those classes: 6% nationally and 7% in Tulsa. On top of that, only 33% of women take those classes.
In Tulsa, roughly less than 1% of women enter into a tech occupation compared to about 1.2% nationally.
The findings suggest that although Tulsa is moving in the right direction, the city must bolster its efforts to catch up with national statistics. Organizations including Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance and Oklahoma Women in Tech are some of the groups doing that work.
Following the presentation, the audience was asked to not only interpret but to question the data presented to them. They continued discussions on women in the workforce and college and broke out into smaller groups to discuss how to get more women into STEM at an earlier age.
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
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