Women in Cloud Report 2026 Highlights Barriers to Women's Careers

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 10 February 2026

• Women in Cloud (WIC) launched its Economic Access Report 2026 in New Delhi
• It points to the existing disparity between the development of digital and AI learning resources and career advancements

Women in Cloud released its Economic Access Report 2026 highlighting a key contradiction in today's economic environment.

While access to AI learning platforms, certification programs, digital communities and global opportunities has expanded, many skilled women professionals report that their career progress has slowed down or stalled.

It is a community-oriented report developed through the participation of over 250 women, comprising founders, students, and leaders in the digital economy, who contributed to the report through their participation in the WIC Community Kickoff 2026.

The research focused on the five major areas of economic access skills and Credentials, Jobs and careers, entrepreneurship and funding, leadership and visibility and communities and networks

Such results show that the aspect of access to the opportunity is now clear, but the aspect of outcomes or results is not clear to the participants.

The results show that even though skill development is accessible to anyone, only one in every four participants had clarity regarding the outcomes or results of their skills.

More than 56 per cent of the participants found access to funding and entrepreneurial paths to be unclear, making it the most fragile of all.

One-third of the participants were found to believe that pathways to leadership and sponsorship were not clear, while 26 per cent were not clear regarding the outcomes of their community relations.

In the report, it is noted that the participants may be aware of the areas where skills, funding, and leadership opportunities are available; however, the guidance is missing. This has been noted across all demographics, geographical areas, and career stages.

Participants were also asked to associate economic access with five interconnected dimensions of economic agency, namely confidence, income, independence, influence, and direction.

According to this report, confidence is now increasingly being driven not only by mindset but also by the existence of clear, transparent, and reliable economic pathways.

The survey results revealed that 92 percent of the respondents saw access to skills and credentials as somewhat visible, but only 10 percent recognized job and career paths as clearly defined.

More than half of the respondents saw access to funding and business development as unclear, and almost a third saw limited clarity in the area of leadership and visibility.

Following this revelation, Women in Cloud announced plans to launch a WIC Confidence Circle, which will focus on creating clarity, ensuring actionability, and achieving measurable economic outcomes.

The organisation also announced plans to produce Women in Cloud 2026 Economic Access Roadmap, create career and placement pilots.