Connecting Women in Digital event: Bridging the gap for women in ICT

Author: Lim Zheng Ming (BDVA intern)

One week ago, in celebration of International Women’s Day, the Connecting Women in Digital – WIDCON project organised a high-level event that highlighted the work of women across the digital landscape and discussed ways to accelerate progress on gender balance in ICT. This 3-part event kicked off with speeches by June Lowery-Kingston (DG Connect), Henna Virkkunen (Executive VP of Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy), Renate Nikolay (Deputy Director-General at DG Connect European Commission) and MEP Elena Sancho Marillo.

Following the opening speeches, the results of the Thematic Working Groups (TWG) were shared with participants. TWG 1 (Encouraging ICT Education) found weaknesses in attracting and retaining women in the ICT workforce, despite strong EU policy foundations such as the EU Gender Equality Strategy. Complementary findings also showed early exposure to ICT is useful for long-term sustainable retention of women in tech. TWG 2 (Leadership Empowerment) found mutually reinforcing internal and external dimensions acting as barriers for women entering or advancing in the field of ICT. The identified three internal dimensions are:

• perceived readiness in the rapidly evolving digital sector
• exposure and access
• sustainability in digital leadership

Also, three external dimensions for women have been identified:

• organisational & leadership culture
• recruitment & power structure
• Innovation ecosystem & visibility dynamics.  

Panel of 6: building a Digital Europe – how to bridge the gap for women in ICT 

Yaël Pelegrin (DG Connect) and Michael Scheffer (president of the Board, European Innovation Council – EIC) opened the panel discussion. This session discussed findings from the two TWGs, where it was suggested that a main obstacle for women entering an ICT career is a possible disconnect in expectations due to women’s preference for socially impactful careers, while the perception of ICT is that it is dry and heavily focused on coding and data. Bringing back the discussion to TWG 1 findings, consistent ICT exposure throughout students’ academic journeys allows a smoother career entry for women into ICT.  

Open discussion: implementation of recommendations

The open discussion offered attendees the opportunity to intervene in a Q&A on how to best address issues related to the retention of the women workforce in ICT, and how to implement these recommendations at the organisational, national and European levels. Suggestions prioritised immediate solutions, such as quotas, as well as support systems for women undergoing career switches or breaks. Attendees also suggested consultations from feminist perspectives on planning programmes such as early education programmes, mentorship programmes and support systems across all three levels.  

Essentially, the progress of gender equality across the EU workforce is undisputed, while in the digital sector this balance is still skewed towards men. Michael Scheffer reported that venture capital (mostly led by men) has more funds, yet the EIC funds women-led startups 20 times more than VCs, which he believes should be the opposite. Women might be a minority in the digital sector, but their contributions and impact in the field have proved to be invaluable.