As we conclude Women’s History Month for 2025, it is important to highlight the influential women who have helped shatter the glass ceiling in the tech industry and the workplace. These trailblazers worked hard to help pave the way for women in tech and work through their visions, leadership, and perseverance.
While many of these individuals have been widely covered, there are others that might not be as well-known, so it is critical to continue telling their stories in order to make an impact on the next generation of women leaders in tech and the workforce overall.
Here are the some of the top women who have made a strong impact both in technology as well as the evolution of the workplace:
Women Shaping Tech and Work
Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace is considered the world’s first female computer programmer, exhibiting strong skills in mathematics and machines. Ada wrote the first algorithm intended for machines which ultimately laid the initial foundations for the field of computer science. A computer programming language called ADA was developed in honor of her, which is still in use today in applications such as avionics, aerospace, transportation, and defense.
The second Tuesday in October is celebrated as Ada Lovelace Day, which encourages women to challenge gender inequalities and increase diversity by pursuing careers in STEM related fields.
Annie Easley
Annie Easley is recognized as a famous African American woman in tech who contributed to numerous programs as a mathematician, computer scientist, and rocket scientist. Easley began her career at the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio as a “human computer” analyzing problems for researchers. She was only one of four African American employees at The Lab (the predecessor of the NASA Glenn Research Center). As technology began to evolve, Annie Easley became a computer programmer and developed and implemented code used in researching energy-conversion systems. According to her bio, “she analyzed alternative power technology—including the battery technology that was used for early hybrid vehicles, as well as for the Centaur upper-stage rocket.”
Karen Sparck-Jones
Karen Sparck-Jones is a well-known pioneer in information science. She developed the Inverse Document Frequency (IDF), which is a weighting factor used to check how important a word is to a document and how conventional the word is in web search engines. This method is still a standard practice in web search engines today. Karen Sparck-Jones received the Lovelace Medal in 2007 thanks to her outstanding contributions to information and computing technologies.
Gladys West
We can thank Gladys West for our modern-day driving apps that have changed the way we transport across the globe. West, as a Navy scientist, was part of the foundation development of our Global Positioning System (otherwise known as GPS). Her coding prowess in the 70’s and 80s, “delivered increasingly refined calculations for an extremely accurate model of the Earth’s shape, optimized for what ultimately became the GPS orbit used by satellites.”
Kimberly Bryant
Kimberly Bryant played a huge role in developing the next generation of women in tech. She is the founder of Black Girls Who Code, which focuses on teaching girls of color to develop apps and learn computer programming. The program originally started in the San Francisco Bay Area but has now expanded to cities across America and South Africa.
A strong advocate for women in tech, Kimberly serves as a member for multiple gender diversity and outreach programs such as the National Girls Collaborative Project, and the National Center for Women & Information Technology.
France Perkins
Frances Perkins was an instrumental leader behind the advancement of the New Deal that revolutionized the US economy and how we work. As the first female cabinet member, Perkins was named to Secretary of Labor and implemented policies that influence work safety and workers’ rights that continue into modern-day.
Lilly Ledbetter
A tireless advocate for pay equity, Lilly Ledbetter recognized the injustice and discrimination that was occurring in her place of work and fought to overcome the pay disparities that women regularly faced. Her efforts eventually led to the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009.
There are countless women who have shaped the way we work, specifically in the tech industry. We are reminded to honor their commitment, perseverance, and leadership which fosters greater diversity and increased opportunities for the future generation of female tech leaders.
