2025: You were tough, but we were tougher
Happy Hump Day {{first_name | Toaster}} 🐪 ,
For some of us, 2025 was not our best year. Layoffs, patriarchy fatigue, return-to-office, scaling back DEI, moments when it felt like visibility and opportunity kept pulling in opposite directions. A new Women in the Workplace report just dropped with evidence that support for women’s advancement is declining in some companies’ priorities, and that’s hard to swallow when we’re pushing for real inclusion.
However, 2025 also reminded us just how powerful and resilient women are. From breaking funding ceilings and claiming leadership seats, to pioneering innovations and holding workplaces accountable for equity, women didn’t just survive the year - we moved the needle. Here are some wins worth calling out:
In Canada, women are increasingly claiming leadership roles in the investment side of tech and innovation - 88% of Canadian VC and PE firms now have women on their investment committees, up significantly from past years, which is a big step toward more gender-diverse decision-making in where capital flows.
Rethink Impact, the largest U.S. venture fund dedicated to backing women‑led tech companies, raised a new $250M+ fund, bringing its assets under management to over $500 million - a standout moment for gender‑lens investing even amid a slow VC market.
In broader industry surveys, a majority of women in tech reported strengthened DEI efforts at their workplaces in 2025, with 75% noting improvements in how companies are addressing inclusion even as challenges remain and as DEI budgets are rolled back.
Multiple countries expanded pay-transparency legislation in 2025, forcing employers to publish salary ranges and gender pay gap data. Early reporting shows narrower wage gaps in tech roles where transparency laws were enforced, particularly for mid-level women who are most often underpaid.
Closer to home - we also saw tangible momentum in spaces that matter. Despite representing nearly half of the workforce, women account for just 24% of the tech industry. Yet, Toast has helped members and candidates secure over $10 million in cumulative salary increases through job placements and raise negotiations, while driving 10x more diverse placements in our partners’ hiring pipelines compared to industry representation.
Looking ahead to 2026, we’re not slowing down. We’ll keep pushing for equitable workplaces, fighting the good old fight against the patriarchy, and building structures that actually support women in tech. Here’s to a year where opportunity, visibility, and reward finally line up, and where women continue to shape the rules instead of just playing by them. 2026 is ours to own.
Cheers,
Team Toast 🥂
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