💥 DeepTech’s Unfinished Business: What the Industry Still Gets Wrong About Women Celebrating progress? Sure. But not before we talk about the mess that still needs fixing.
Let’s be clear: Women in DeepTech are not waiting for a seat at the table anymore—we’re building the damn lab.
And yet… we still have to knock louder. Explain harder. Justify longer. Smile softer.
Progress has happened—but it’s nowhere near the finish line.
At TechSheThink, we’re not just here to high-five the wins. We’re here to point out the gaps, the flaws, the things that still don’t sit right in 2025.
Let’s talk about the unfinished business of DeepTech—and why women in AI, quantum computing, cloud infrastructure, and STEM innovation are done with waiting politely.
🧠Myth: "It’s Better Now, So Stop Complaining."
Reality: Better isn’t the same as fair.
Yes, we’ve seen growth in the number of women entering tech programs.
Yes, there are more women-led startups than there were a decade ago.
Yes, DEI policies exist.
But let’s not confuse crumbs for cake.
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Women still hold only a tiny percentage of leadership roles in DeepTech sectors.
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Female-founded DeepTech startups receive less than 3% of venture capital globally.
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In fields like AI and cybersecurity, women are underrepresented at every level, from engineer to executive.
Progress doesn’t cancel out the need for outrage. It just means the outrage has to get smarter—and louder.
🚪Biased Hiring Practices: Still Locking Women Out
Let’s talk gatekeeping. Still thriving.
Hiring in DeepTech often revolves around:
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Who you know (not what you know).
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Ivy League degrees (even if your state school code is cleaner).
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Culture fit (read: “people who look, think, and joke like us”).
Women—especially women of color—are being filtered out by biased screening algorithms, outdated definitions of “technical excellence,” and interview panels that still ask if they plan to have kids.
Meanwhile, talent is walking away.
Because no one wants to fight bias and build quantum architectures on the same Tuesday morning.
👩🔬 The Leadership Gap: Still Not Taken Seriously
You’d think running teams, managing million-dollar budgets, and building entire infrastructures would be enough to be seen as “leadership material.”
Yet somehow, women are:
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Over-mentored but under-promoted.
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Asked to “prove it” twice as much.
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Tokenized at panels but skipped in boardroom decisions.
In DeepTech, leadership still looks male, white, and confident—even when it’s underperforming.
The result? Brilliant women stay stuck in mid-level roles, while less-qualified counterparts climb faster thanks to bro-networks and VC connections.
💰 The VC Boys' Club: Still Alive and Caffeinated
Imagine pitching your AI-powered medtech breakthrough… and being asked if your cofounder is your husband. (True story.)
Women in DeepTech still face:
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Lower valuations.
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Longer funding timelines.
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More scrutiny, fewer term sheets.
Gender-lens investing is growing, yes—but most capital is still being funneled to teams that "look like the last successful team,” which was… surprise! Not us.
And don’t even get us started on how few women are writing the checks.
🧪 The Invisible Labor: Still Unpaid and Unseen
Let’s talk about all the things women do in DeepTech that don’t show up on performance reviews:
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Mentoring junior staff.
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Handling team emotional dynamics.
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Organizing internal knowledge bases.
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Calling out ethics issues when no one else will.
This invisible labor keeps teams functional, products safe, and workplaces humane. Yet it’s rarely rewarded—and often expected.
We’re not just doing the job.
We’re patching the culture while we’re at it.
⚡ So, What Now? TechSheThink’s Call to Action
We’re not here to rant for ranting’s sake.
We’re here to build better.
Here’s what every woman in DeepTech (and every ally who’s listening) can do right now:
1. Name the gap.
Talk about bias openly. In meetings. In hiring decisions. In funding conversations. Silence feeds the system.
2. Sponsor, don’t just mentor.
Advocate for women behind closed doors. Recommend them for stretch roles. Push them toward the C-suite.
3. Fund women like the future depends on it.
Because it does. Back women-led ventures. Choose gender-lens funds. Diversify your cap table.
4. Burn the checklist.
Reject the idea that women must be perfect to be promoted. Let them lead in their own way.
5. Build networks that don’t echo.
Form alliances across industries, cultures, and experiences. Invite different voices into your Slack, your startup, your science.
💬 Final Word from TechSheThink
We’ll celebrate when it’s time.
But today, we’re still calling things out.
Because DeepTech has unfinished business. And women?
We’re the ones who are going to finish it—with code, courage, and a refusal to stay politely silent.
So keep speaking up.
Keep building weird, brilliant, necessary things.
Keep showing the industry what it missed by sidelining us for so long.
The system might still get it wrong.
But you, TechSheThink reader?
💥 You’re getting it right.
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