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MOTIFE Blog

Expert view:
Marta Kępa, Vice President at SoDA

Women in IT in Krakow

By MOTIFE Insights, 2 December 2025

Despite continued efforts to strengthen diversity in the technology sector, the representation of women in IT remains a systemic challenge in Krakow and across Poland. Recent survey results provide a cautiously optimistic picture, yet they also reveal how deeply workforce patterns are shaped by the structure of the local market.

Larger organizations tend to employ more women, particularly in technical roles, while smaller companies often lag behind. Against this backdrop, Krakow’s performance stands out as promising, but still far from the U.S. benchmark of 35% female participation in tech. Progress depends not only on hiring practices, but on a much broader and longer educational pipeline.

Check out also: Krakow IT Market Report 2025

Marta Kępa: The share of women in IT in Krakow significantly exceeds the national average, which, according to data from the Ministry of Digital Affairs, may be as low as 17.5%.

This makes Krakow’s performance particularly encouraging, although it is likely linked to the nature and size of the companies surveyed. The larger the organization, the more likely it is to hire women, including in technical roles.

However, reaching the U.S. benchmark of 35% still requires substantial progress—especially in foundational education. Employers cannot prioritize candidates based on gender, as this contradicts the principle of equal opportunity. Therefore, the solution lies deeper—in the educational pipeline, beginning from primary and secondary education through to higher education.

The limited growth in the percentage of women in the IT workforce mirrors the slow increase in the number of female students at technical universities. According to the Girls at Technical Universities 2025 report, the number of women in new technology-related fields grew by 15% between 2020 and 2024, while the number of women in IT-specific programs rose by 35%. However, since the number of male students is increasing at a similar pace, the percentage share of women rose only slightly—by 0.8 percentage points in new tech disciplines and by 1.7 points in IT. As of now, women account for just 17% of students in IT-related studies.

This makes it challenging to expand the pool of women qualified to enter the tech industry. Still, change is possible. Every initiative—whether led by government institutions, universities, NGOs, or businesses—that showcases the diversity of roles within IT can help shift perceptions. After all, IT is not just about programming. It also includes UX design, data analysis, project management, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence, areas where women continue to excel.

Women in IT in Krakow

Despite the evolving landscape of the IT job market, it remains a male-dominated industry. However, there is a growing recognition of the need for gender diversity. An important perspective is that diversity is not only about the share of women; it is also about understanding the value that female team members bring into IT teams. It also includes recognizing that a key metric is the share of women in leadership roles within IT companies. Community initiatives and campaigns are increasingly spotlighting the role of women in IT, encouraging more inclusive practices. Large organizations are particularly visible in these efforts, often showcasing their female IT leaders to promote gender diversity within leadership roles. While such promotional efforts are important for raising awareness, they may not fully represent the actual gender diversity within the industry. Ultimately, the true measure of gender diversity in IT is reflected in the hard data—the share of women in the IT headcount.

Survey on women in IT

The analysis, based on data from 77 Krakow-based IT companies, reveals several notable trends in gender representation. There is significant variation among companies, with those at the top end employing women in IT roles at a rate nearly three times higher than those at the bottom. Company size appears to be a contributing factor, as larger organizations (those with over 100 IT specialists) tend to report a higher share of women in technical roles. Additionally, the average female representation among the surveyed companies stands at approximately 28%, which is notably above the Polish national average of around 17.5%. This suggests that the sample may slightly over-represent more gender-diverse organizations.

Largest employers of women in IT in Krakow

Below is a curated list of the leading employers in Krakow when it comes to women working in IT. These companies stand out for their strong female representation across technical roles, offering insights into which organizations are at the forefront of gender diversity in the local tech scene.

Download a free list of the largest employers of women in IT in Krakow

Learn more about what international companies have achieved with their Krakow tech labs by downloading our Krakow IT Market Report 2025

If you are interested in setting up your own engineering hub in Poland, contact us at MOTIFE to learn more.

If you are looking for interesting job opportunities in tech companies in Poland, check out open roles at motife.com/jobs.

Krakow IT Market Report 2023

Explore essential data on Poland's tech landscape.

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