From Bias to Brilliance: Women in tech coaching
- Vicky Pike
- Jun 5
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 11
How unconscious bias holds women in tech back, and how coaching helps you move forward with clarity, confidence, and power.
First off: you’re not imagining it; it’s real.
If you’ve ever hesitated before speaking in a meeting, triple-checked your email wording, or waited until you ticked every box be fore applying for a job, you’re not overthinking. You’re adapting to the invisible pressures of unconscious bias: subtle, automatic judgements people make based on stereotypes rather than facts, which shape how women are perceived, treated, and evaluated at work.
For Women in tech, especially those in leadership or high-pressure roles, bias doesn’t show up as one dramatic event. It shows up in a thousand tiny moments:
Being interrupted or overlooked in meetings
Watching male peers get praised for “vision,” while you’re labelled “too much”
Having your idea dismissed, only for it to be applauded when a man repeats it
Feeling like you must be bulletproof just to be considered “ready”
These aren’t personal failings. They’re symptoms of structural patterns.
What the data tells us about unconscious bias
A Textio analysis of 23,000 performance reviews (2024) found:
76% of high-performing women received negative feedback, compared to just 2% of men.
88% of these women were criticised for personality traits such as “abrasive,” “emotional,” “bossy.”
By contrast, men were praised for skills, results, and impact.
Yale research shows women are interrupted 2–3 times more often than men and their ideas are frequently ignored until echoed by male colleagues.
Hewlett Packard’s internal report found men apply for roles when they meet 60% of the criteria; women wait until they meet 100%.
McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2024 report shows for every 100 men promoted to manager, only 81 women are.
This isn’t anecdotal. It’s widespread. It’s measurable. And it’s exhausting.
Understanding different types of unconscious bias
Performance Bias: Women are held to higher standards, expected to prove competence before being promoted.
Attribution Bias: Women’s ideas are often undervalued.
Likeability Bias: Women who assert themselves often pay a social penalty, are seen as unlikeable.
These forms of bias compound to shape how women show up at work and how they’re seen.
When bias breeds imposter syndrome and self-doubt
Unconscious bias doesn’t just shape how others see you, it quietly rewires how you see yourself. When you’re interrupted, dismissed, or consistently held to a higher standard, it’s easy to start questioning your own competence, no matter how experienced you are.
“Maybe I just got lucky.”
“I probably don't deserve this role.”
“I’m just not as good as the others.”
That’s imposter syndrome, the internalised belief that you’re a fraud, despite clear evidence of your success. It’s not a personal weakness. It’s a natural response to long-term exposure to biased environments that deny or downplay your value.
And then comes the confidence gap
Beyond imposter syndrome lies a broader, more measurable trend: the confidence gap.
It’s the reason women often hesitate to put themselves forward for new roles or promotions; not because they lack ability, they’ve been conditioned to underestimate their readiness.
A Hewlett-Packard report found that:
Men apply for jobs when they meet just 60% of the criteria.
Women wait until they meet 100%.
It’s not about capability it’s about confidence and actually a rational response to performance bias.
And that hesitation has real consequences for progression, visibility, and pay.
Over time, that hesitation, paired with constant self-monitoring, over-functioning, and emotional labour, can lead to burnout. Not the dramatic collapse kind, but the slow, silent erosion of joy, clarity, and energy.
You can’t change the system alone, but you can stop shrinking to fit it
You can’t control the hiring manager who insists you tick every box. You can't rewrite a biased job spec. And you shouldn’t have to.
But what you can do is stop shrinking to fit expectations that were never designed with you in mind. Coaching helps you see these unrealistic standards for what they are: external filters, not internal failings, so you can act with courage and clarity, even when the system lags behind.
Coaching helps bridge this gap, not by teaching women to mimic overconfidence, but by helping them recognise their strengths, trust their instincts, and take action even when the doubts creep in.
7 Ways Women in Tech Coaching helps navigate bias
Coaching helps you to re-wire your own story, to recognise bias, navigate it strategically, and lead on your own terms.
1. Spot the pattern so you stop internalising it
You’re not “too sensitive.” Coaching helps you name the biases you've unknowingly absorbed and decide what to let go.
2. Reclaim your leadership identity
Bias penalises women for being either “too strong” or “not strong enough.” Coaching helps you stop shape-shifting and lead as yourself. With power, not apology.
3. Silence the inner critic
That voice telling you you're not ready or not enough? Coaching helps you to let go of this internalised conditioning, replacing it with different beliefs:
“I’ve earned this.”
“I have a right to speak.”
“I don’t need to be perfect, I need to be present.”
4. Say no without guilt
You’ve likely been the team’s emotional backbone, mentor, organiser, and fixer. Coaching helps you draw the line between leadership and martyrdom.
Boundaries are not resistance. They are strategy. Saying no isn’t selfish. It’s sustainable.
5. Own your wins
Women are conditioned to stay humble. But visibility is power.
In coaching, we practise:
Speaking about your impact with confidence
Navigating performance reviews with data and presence
Asking for stretch roles, even if you don’t tick every box
No more waiting to be noticed. You own the room.
6. Speak so they listen
Yes, women are interrupted more. But you can learn strategies that help you hold space, redirect interruptions, and credit ideas appropriately.
Coaching helps you:
Use strong opening language
Assert your voice in male-dominated rooms
Call out bias tactfully, without derailing influence
7. Reconnect with your “why”
Many women in tech feel disconnected from the joy that once fuelled them. Coaching helps you return to what you care about and make decisions based on that.
It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters.
If you’ve ever been told to tone it down, hold back, smile more, speak less—this is your reminder: You’re not too much. You’re powerful, capable, and ready.
Special invitation: Bias to Brilliance coaching programmes
If this blog hit home, you’re exactly who I created Bias to Brilliance for. My flagship 1:1 coaching programme designed for Women in Tech who are tired of bending to biased systems and are ready to rise with clarity, confidence, and strategy.
Set up a free discovery call to find out more.
If, however, you're looking for support in community, I've also created a brand-new Group Edition of the programme.
Because, sometimes the most powerful shift comes from hearing: “Me too.”
Our group coaching programme offers the same strategic, bias-aware coaching within a supportive, facilitated space where women reflect, connect, and grow together.
Group coaching provides:
Shared experience and mutual validation
Peer insight from diverse roles and backgrounds
Accountability and encouragement from others walking similar paths
If you're craving community and coaching, this could be the perfect place to start.
Contact Us to register your interest and be the first to hear about launch dates and spaces.
With Gender parity estimated to be 134 years away, don’t wait for the system to change to feel differently. Start now, with support, strategy, and a community that gets it, moving from bias…to brilliance.
