The EU4Digital Facility organised a virtual training on women’s mentorship programmes in ICT and innovation on 20 August 2020.

During the training, the Director of the ‘Women Go Tech’ Programme, Diana Česonytė, shared her insights on making tech-related workplaces, events and initiatives more inclusive for women and in turn bringing more women into tech. 

One of the most popular solutions to raise women’s interest in the tech sector is introducing mentorship programmes, as these provide in-depth insight and career advice, and support planning to streamline the successful integration of women in technology-intensive workplaces. 

The training included a presentation of best practices for mentoring women, as well as a workshop for countries to share their insights on the possibilities to bring more women into tech and the already existing initiatives. Group discussions were carried out on the following topics:

• Supporting early-interest development in STEM;
• Eliminating implicit biases related to hiring decisions for women in tech;
• Making workplaces more inclusive for women;
• Creating women’s career advancement opportunities; 
• Identifying female role models and mentors in the tech sector;
• Closing the pay gap between genders in the tech sector.

More than 15 experts from Eastern partner countries participated in group discussions during the workshop and shared their insights on the existing barriers and challenges for women to participate in the tech sector as well as existing initiatives to increase female participation in tech-intensive workplaces by adopting the principles presented during the workshop. 

The participants noted that some biases regarding women working in STEM-related fields still exist and there is gender gap between men and women working in tech-related fields in their countries.  However, there are already several initiatives and practices in place to boost women’s participation in the tech field such as mentorship programmes and promotion campaigns for STEM targeted towards girls and women. There are also several networks that bring together women working in the tech field and enable them to act as role models for other women that might be interested in following a tech sector career.

The EU4Digital Facility supports digital skills development and ICT Innovation through several activities, including the organisation of trainings, conferences and study visits to EU Member States for policy makers and training providers and support for the establishment of women’s mentorship programmes.

Women Go Tech: https://www.womengotech.lt/