From the first workplace computers to smartphones, AI and virtual reality, five generations of women have grown up with completely different technologies. Their opportunities have changed too. Yet the gender gap in ICT is still with us.
So what has actually changed?
The new HER TECH report, From Boomers to Alpha: Understanding Women’s Motivation for Pursuing ICT as a Study and Profession, looks across five generations – Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha – to understand what draws women and girls towards technology and what pushes them away.
The comparison reveals an important shift: the barriers have not simply disappeared. They have changed their form.
For Baby Boomers, the obstacles were often visible and structural: limited access to technology, male-dominated environments and inequalities connected with work and family responsibilities. For Gen X, professional identity became increasingly important: Can I actually see myself as an engineer? Among Millennials, greater access to technology existed alongside persistent stereotypes and confidence gaps. For Gen Z, the conversation increasingly centres on belonging, purpose and whether ICT feels like a place for people like them.
And then comes Gen Alpha.
Here, the story may begin much earlier than we thought. Research reviewed by HER TECH indicates that gender stereotypes can already be internalised around the age of seven. Teachers, families, role models and early experiences with technology can therefore influence attitudes towards ICT long before girls start thinking about university or careers.
Looking across all five generations also reveals a striking continuity. The language has changed – from access and confidence to identity and belonging – but girls’ and women’s perceptions of their own abilities can still lag behind their actual performance. Formal equality has not automatically translated into equal participation either.
This changes the question HER TECH needs to ask.
It is no longer only “How do we get more women into ICT?”
We also need to ask when girls begin to decide whether technology is for them, what happens along the way, and what helps them stay and progress.
The Literature Review is the first stage of HER TECH’s cross-generational research. The next steps will bring women’s own voices into the picture through surveys and interviews across generations and countries.
📖 Read the full HER TECH Literature Review – From Boomers to Alpha
