Conversations Unscripted is a multistakeholder initiative that brings together European leaders to explore avenues to reduce the gender gap in the fields of politics and technology. COST is one of the implementing partners of the project alongside Microsoft’s European Government Affairs team, WOMEN IN TECH, Womenpreneur-Initiative, Women4Cyber Foundation, WIIS Brussels, Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP), Brussels Binder, and the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO).
Last week, the initiative organised its first Breakfast Roundtable, Tech interested? A toolkit on how to join and enable a diverse tech workforce, to take stock of the gender imbalance in the technology sector and address how to enable more women to venture into tech industry.
The discussion, led by Prof. Letizia Jaccheri, Chair of COST Action European Network For Gender Balance in Informatics (EUGAIN), and Laila Deeb, Sofware Engeering Manager, Founder of Syrian Women in Tech (SWIT) and Chair of the Brussels Binder Database, highlighted problems, explained reasons why, debunked the terminology of the sector, and set out potential solutions.
Laila Deeb, Brussels Binder, and Moderator Esa Kaunistola, Microsoft European Government Affairs.
The issues
In 2012, according to Eurostat, 17% of IT professionals were women. By 2019 this figure had grown only to 19.1%. Prof. Jaccheri explains that research carried out at international level attributes four main reasons to the persistent lack of women and slow improvement for gender balance in the IT sector: gender stereotypes, social expectations, insufficient knowledge of jobs, and job adverts that are oriented towards men.
Career paths in tech
When looking at the different possibilities for those interested in a tech career path, Laila Deeb went on to explain the options and demystify the terminology used for certain tech positions and trainings or bootcamps.
“I want to emphasise how important it it’s for the industrial economy to have more women in tech. At the end of the day 50% of the consumers are women. So it’s really important that we have more women creating technology and software and actively participating in this.”
Laila Deeb
Good examples
Is there a country that is leading the way in terms of gender equality in technology? Prof. Jaccheri highlighted the progress made in Norway, where now 29% of ITC students are women, compared with 20% at EU-level. Efforts invested in networking, mentoring, information campaigns and antibias training have paid off, while quotas are also attributed to the increased uptake of women ITC students in Norway.
“In an ideal world we should not have quotes. But with the situation we have at present, and given the slow increased pace of women in IT, the example of Norway shows that quotas work. I am a quota myself – I got last Full Professorship at my University in Norway and became one of the first women IT Professors in Norway. At least students have experienced a woman Professor in the field and now have role models to look up to.”
Prof. Letizia Jaccheri
Why choose IT as a career?
In this new YouTube Shorts series women experts from EUGAIN highlight why you should choose IT as a career.
European Network For Gender Balance in Informatics
Prof. Jaccheri is Chair of COST Action European Network For Gender Balance in Informatics (EUGAIN). Women are underrepresented in Informatics at all levels, from undergraduate and graduate studies to participation and leadership in academia and industry. The main aim and objective of EUGAIN is to improve gender balance in Informatics at all levels through the creation of a European network of colleagues working on the forefront of the efforts for gender balance in Informatics in their countries and research communities.
Over the coming years EUGAIN will provide the academic community, policymakers, industry and other stakeholders with recommendations and guidelines to address the following key challenges:
(i) How to have more girls choosing Informatics as their higher education studies and profession;
(ii) How to retain female students and assure they finish their studies and start successful careers in the field;
(iii) How to encourage more female Ph.D. and postdoctoral researchers to remain in the academic career and apply for professorships in Informatics departments;
(iv) How to support and inspire young women in their careers and help them to overcome the main hurdles that prevent women to reach senior positions.
The Action is open and researchers and innovators in the field are welcome to join at any point.
Further information
A recording of the event will be available soon.